After being saved from release limbo by Neon, Luca Guadagnino’s Sam Altman biodrama “Artificial” screened for audiences at the New York Film Festival on Monday. These first crowds are glad it made its way to theaters.
“‘Artificial’ is a pitch-perfect dark comedy about the absence of responsibility in the face of apocalyptic certainty,” said @erickohn on X. “Andrew Garfield walks a fine line between movie monster, buffoonish mogul, and evil genius. A fun/scary ride that embodies the paradox at its center.”
The film, directed by Guadagnino and written by Simon Rich, follows Andrew Garfield as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during the period when he was fired from and rehired by the company in 2023. “Anora’s” Yura Borisov co-stars as Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s co-founder and chief scientific officer.
“Guadagnino guts Silicon Valley with his obsessive pulse & a powerful farce in which Andrew Garfield completely shines,” said @jairojimenez_ on X. “A feverish, visceral corporate drama that proves what is truly artificial was never in the machines, but in the boardroom. An essential film.”
Amazon MGM initially lined up “Artificial” before controversially uncommitting to releasing the film on June 19, with speculation brewing that the company’s OpenAI ties contributed to the decision. This decision sparked conversation over the potential conflicting interests between tech firms and their entertainment development branches, with Amazon’s commitment to OpenAI coming at odds with the film’s content. Neon acquired the $40 million film roughly two weeks later after would-be suitors like Netflix and Focus Features dropped out of the race.
Now, it seems like Neon has another major awards contender on its hands.
“‘Artificial’ is tremendous, a blistering and furious reworking of ‘The Social Network’ for a world that’s well past the point of destruction, intimate in character but sweeping in scale, more acutely aware of our expiration date than any other film this year,” said @eventualforever on X. “A major achievement.”
You can view more reactions below.
Artificial is tremendous, a blistering and furious reworking of The Social Network for a world that’s well past the point of destruction, intimate in character but sweeping in scale, more acutely aware of our expiration date than any other film this year. a major achievement
— coffee (@eventualforever) October 5, 2026
Luca Guadagnino just ate Sorkin’s lunch. In every way, ARTIFICIAL is the spiritual sequel to THE SOCIAL NETWORK, threading together betrayal, broken ethics and humor — and arriving at a vision as scary as COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT. Damon Albarn’s Bowie-esque score ftw. #NYFF
— Joshua Rothkopf (@joshrothkopf) October 5, 2026
ARTIFICIAL is a pitch-perfect dark comedy about the absence of responsibility in the face of apocalyptic certainty. Andrew Garfield walks a fine line between movie monster, buffoonish mogul, and evil genius. A fun/scary ride that embodies the paradox at its center. #NYFF
— erickohn (@erickohn) October 6, 2026
Artificial runs out of steam before the end, but for much of its running time, it’s a pitch black and often savage comedy about the irresponsibility in regards to AI that might be our doom. Andrew Garfield skewers Sam Altman, while Ike Barinholtz steals his scenes as Elon Musk. pic.twitter.com/ewhwxYAhO0
— Joey Magidson (@JoeyMagidson) October 6, 2026
ARTIFICIAL is Luca Guadagnino’s telling of the origins of the AI boom and where it may one day lead us. As entertaining as it is terrifying, it’s a brilliantly written human story about power, control, ambition, and greed that might be the most urgently relevant film of our time.… pic.twitter.com/ImHKX94vSq
— Matt Neglia @NYFF (@NextBestPicture) October 6, 2026
In a year of filmmakers warning us the end is coming Artificial is a sledgehammer. My lord. And not that he needs it, but Andrew Garfield gives Sam Altman the most epic character assassination ever
— Gregory Ellwood – The Playlist
(@TheGregoryE) October 5, 2026
ARTIFICIAL. Guadagnino guts Silicon Valley with his obsessive pulse & a powerful farce in which Andrew Garfield completely shines. A feverish, visceral corporate drama that proves what is truly artificial was never in the machines, but in the boardroom. An essential film. #NYFF64 pic.twitter.com/030RZzuERt
— Jairo Jiménez @NYFF (@jairojimenez_) October 6, 2026
Have another screening to go to so a longer review will come later but I absolutely loved Luca Guadagnino’s #Artificial It’s an intimate character study but on a huge scale. The cast is amazing. Andrew Garfield fully becomes Sam Altman. Monica Barbaro is excellent as always.…
— Greg Pomes
ARTIFICIAL Guadagnino’s operatic tragedy of human’s desire to race to the end. Shot like the horror that it is elevated by Damon Albarn’s beautifully unsettling score. Script’s tonal mix doesn’t always land but Yura Borisov keeps its humanity as it all descends into hell#NYFF64 pic.twitter.com/eu1lJZBMn4
— Anthony @ NYFF64 (@AnAntLife) October 6, 2026
There are scenes in ARTIFICIAL framed exactly like conversations in Silence of the Lambs and it is 10x scarier
— Kubrick’s Cousin (@LincolnSquare13) October 6, 2026
“Artificial” releases in theaters on Dec. 25.
The post ‘Artificial’ First Reactions Praise Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Terrifying’ Sam Altman Biopic as an ‘Essential Film’ appeared first on TheWrap.
