Luca Guadagnino’s new film, Artificial, premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 5 and is scheduled for a limited theatrical release on December 25. The movie presents a cautionary tale about the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, emerging against a backdrop of public anxiety regarding the technology’s potential risks. In September, former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon raised alarms about the possibility of AI spiraling out of control if left unchecked by its developers.
The narrative traces the history of AI from its early days in 2003 at the University of Toronto laboratory led by Geoffrey Hinton, often regarded as a founding figure in the field, through to present-day concerns. The film concludes with a postscript from Hinton emphasizing the urgent need to restrict AI capabilities.
While the subject matter is grave, the film balances its ominous tone with humor. Ike Barinholtz delivers a comedic performance as a caricature of Elon Musk, portraying him as somewhat disheveled and distracted. The story positions Musk as a peripheral character, focusing instead on OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever, played by Yura Borisov. We first encounter Sutskever as a shy, awkward teenager who catches the attention of Hinton, portrayed by Mark Rylance.
Sutskever’s journey takes him from Google to OpenAI, where he encounters Sam Altman, played by Andrew Garfield with a menacing intensity. Garfield depicts Altman as a calculating and manipulative figure, a
I need to see how they balance the dark comedy with such serious themes. Seems like a risky but interesting choice.
Depicting Altman as a menacing manipulator feels like pure bias. I hope the film explores more nuance than that.
I’m cautiously optimistic about Guadagnino tackling this. Hinton’s involvement suggests it might actually say something meaningful.