Andrew Garfield is Sam Altman in ‘Artificial’ teaser trailer

An idyllic cabin on the water gives way to a reinforced basement lined with machine guns in the first teaser for Artificial, a biopic starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The trailer pivots from serene imagery to an ominous, horror-inflected tone, featuring a robotic performance from Garfield and a monologue predicting that countries will fall and industries are gonna collapse.

The film focuses on the five-day leadership crisis in November 2023 when Altman was abruptly fired by the OpenAI board and subsequently reinstated as CEO. Its path to the screen has mirrored the volatility of its subject; the project was developed and financed by Amazon MGM Studios, only for the studio to drop the film after announcing a $50 billion investment partnership with OpenAI.

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The 'Bunker' Dispute and Survivalist Imagery

A central sequence in the trailer depicts Garfield’s Altman entering a secret bunker filled with weapons, a creative choice that draws directly from Altman's real-world history. In a 2016 profile for the New Yorker, Altman described prepping for survival as a hobby, listing his supplies as gold, guns, antibiotics, and gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, intended for scenarios where AI might turn on humanity.

The film's portrayal of this facility highlights a persistent semantic disagreement between the CEO and his critics. During a 2023 Wall Street Journal interview and a 2025 appearance on Theo Von's podcast, Altman denied having a bunker, describing his facilities instead as underground, concrete heavy, reinforced basements.

During the podcast interview, Von's staff queried ChatGPT on the matter, and the chatbot concluded that Altman does indeed possess a bunker. The trailer leans into this atmospheric tension, utilizing harrowing music and a voice-over in which Garfield claims, We opened Pandora’s box together and describes the role of OpenAI leadership as the ones to shepherd people into this new world.

Financial Alliances and Distribution Failures

The production of Artificial was nearly derailed by the financial interests of its original backer. Amazon MGM Studios financed the project but announced on June 19 that it would no longer release the film. While an Amazon spokesperson stated the movie would be better served if it were released by a different studio, the decision coincided with a massive corporate pivot.

Amazon's partnership with OpenAI involves a total investment of $50 billion, comprising an initial $15 billion followed by up to $35 billion in the coming months.

Cooper Hoffman, a cast member in the film, told Variety he was not surprised by Amazon's exit, noting that it actually makes sense given the partnership. The film was eventually rescued by Neon, the independent studio known for distributing Parasite and Anora.

Garfield’s Return to Big Tech

Artificial marks a return to the tech sector for Andrew Garfield, who portrayed Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin in the 2010 film The Social Network. This trajectory has drawn attention to Garfield's personal views on the wealth and psychology of the elite.

In an interview with Esquire, Garfield stated that anyone managing a technology that could do a hell of a lot of damage to the soul of humanity must possess a certain ability to dissociate.

This critique of billionaire dissociation has created a point of friction for some observers. Following a Q&A for his other upcoming project, The Uprising, Garfield expressed hope that billionaires would be scared s***less by the film. This sentiment prompted social media backlash, including comments from Spencer Pratt, who pointed out the irony of Garfield receiving reportedly multi-million dollar paychecks—specifically citing a reported $5 million fee for Artificial—from the very system he critiques.

The film features a broad ensemble cast depicting the OpenAI inner circle and its periphery:

• Yura Borisov: Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI cofounder who helped lead the effort to remove Altman.
• Ike Barinholtz: Elon Musk.
• Monica Barbaro and Cooper Hoffman: Colleagues of Altman.
• Additional Cast: Mark Rylance, Jason Schwartzman, Zosia Mamet, Chris O’Dowd, Cooper Koch, and Billie Lourd.

The film, written by Saturday Night Live alumnus Simon Rich and directed by Luca Guadagnino, is set to have its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 5, 2026.