Artificial LFF review: Luca Guadagnino takes on ChatGPT
After letting me down with After the Hunt, I hoped Artificial – about the origins of ChatGPT – would restore my faith in Luca Guadagnino. And thankfully it does!
Although everybody will talk about Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, the film is actually told through the eyes of Russian tech whiz Ilya Sutskever (Yura Borisov), starting with his work on neural networks with Geoffrey Hinton (Mark Rylance) at the University of Toronto, his time with Google, and ultimately, his decision to leave Google to start OpenAI with Altman, with him as the chief scientific officer and Altman as the CEO. It leads up to Altman’s controversial firing and rehiring in 2023.
I’m not a tech person and I don’t use ChatGPT, so I didn’t understand a lot of what they were saying, particularly in the first half, which is essentially a potted history of Sutskever’s career. Even still, you care about the relationships, the dynamic shifts and the fact that they can’t control their AI, that it’s becoming smarter than humans and able to spread misinformation and manipulate people. Altman prioritises profit over ethics and safety, putting him at odds with Sutskever and Mira Murati (Monica Barbaro), their chief technology officer.
Because there are many years to cover, concepts to understand and characters to introduce, Guadagnino can’t do everyone justice, so the film focuses on Altman and Sutskever. We get to know them better than others (I really had no idea what Murati or Cooper Hoffman‘s Greg did at the company), but the portrayals aren’t that deep and may not be accurate. It paints Altman in a bad light and treats Sutskever favourably, and it’s not fair or balanced. It goes for the jugular and it’s very clear that Guadagnino isn’t a fan of AI (but neither am I).
Garfield doesn’t look like Altman much, but he really nails his walk and mannerisms. He presents as this friendly, approachable guy, but he slowly evolves and is accused of lying, manipulating and stirring internal division to stay in charge. He doesn’t share the same ethical concerns about his product as his board. Burisov – the breakout star of Anora – is excellent as a serious Russian with the inability to lie. Towards the end, he has real ‘what have I done?’ energy that reminded me of Oppenheimer. I would have liked more from the events of 2023, but the film is long enough already, so I understood why it ended where it does.
The biggest downside is Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, an early investor in OpenAI who pops in and out to check in on their progress. He is played as a caricature with ridiculous facial expressions, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I’m not sure if this is what Guadagnino intended.
Artificial is a return to form for Guadagnino and is equal parts entertaining and horrifying.
Showing at the London Film Festival. In cinemas from January 2027