Luca Guadagnino premiered Artificial, his satirical biopic of Sam Altman, at the New York Film Festival. The film approaches one of the technology sector’s most closely watched figures through comedy, while retaining an emphasis on the underlying events, according to The Verge's review of Artificial.
Speaking onstage at the premiere, Guadagnino described the central fascination in direct terms: “When someone wants to play God, that's very interesting to me.” The comment places ambition, authority and control at the centre of the film’s treatment of Altman.
Artificial is not framed simply as a portrait of one executive. Its subject is power — who holds it, who seeks more of it and what people may be prepared to do to secure it. That makes the film’s satirical approach particularly suited to an AI industry where technical capability and institutional influence are deeply intertwined.
For founders, investors and technologists, the premise points beyond the personalities involved. As AI systems become more consequential, disputes over leadership and governance can shape the direction of the technology as much as product launches or research breakthroughs. Guadagnino’s film turns that tension into drama without abandoning the factual foundations of its story.