Amazon MGM Studios has ended plans to release the film "Artificial," a biopic about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman directed by Luca Guadagnino, in June 2026 [1, 2, 3, 4]. The movie portrays the turbulent week in November 2023 when Altman was abruptly fired on November 17 and then reinstated as OpenAI CEO on November 22 [1, 2, 3, 4].
Andrew Garfield stars as Altman alongside Monica Barbaro as CTO Mira Murati, Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, and Yura Borisov as Ilya Sutskever [1, 4]. The film reportedly depicts Altman and Musk as the least sympathetic characters [4]. Filming wrapped in October 2024 after about a year in production [1, 3].
An Amazon spokesperson said the studio has "the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award-winning filmmaker," and praised their longstanding relationship but added, "We believe that Artificial will be better served if it were released by a different studio and are working closely with the filmmaking team to find the film a new home" [2]. Amazon has worked with Guadagnino on previous films including "Challengers" [1, 3, 4].
The decision comes months after Amazon announced a $50 billion strategic investment and cloud partnership with OpenAI in February 2026 [1, 2, 3, 4]. OpenAI and Guadagnino did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the film's status [3].
Amazon is now collaborating with the filmmakers to secure a new distributor for "Artificial," with no release date currently scheduled [1, 2, 3, 4].
