Artificial: first reactions are in, and they all say one thing

If you've been following the never-ending drama around the rise of AI—and let's be honest, it's hard to avoid these days—you might have heard the rumblings about Artificial. This is the Luca Guadagnino film tackling the OpenAI chaos, including that surreal five-day period when Sam Altman was booted from his own company in November 2023. The film's had a tricky road to audiences, but it finally landed its debut at the New York Film Festival, setting off a cascade of strong (and occasionally sweary) first reactions on social media.

Artificial premiered at the New York Film Festival after delays and distribution hiccups.

The (very real) cast of characters

If you need a refresher on who's playing whom in this geek soap opera:

• Andrew Garfield is Sam Altman, the enigmatic OpenAI boss.
• Yura Borisov takes on Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI co-founder who tried to oust Altman.
• Monica Barbaro plays Mira Murati, OpenAI's chief tech officer.
• Cooper Hoffman is board chairman Greg Brockman.
• Ike Barinholtz pops up as Elon Musk, in case you were worried about the cast being too subtle.

The film is penned by Simon Rich, probably best known for Miracle Workers, and it's got a line-up of heavyweight producers, including David Heyman, Jeffrey Clifford, Jennifer Fox, and Guadagnino himself.

Early buzz and reactions

The moment Artificial screened in New York, critics and festival die-hards were straight onto Twitter (or whatever we're calling it now) with their hot takes. These range from the slightly breathless to the downright panicked, so here's a flavour of what's being said:

Matt Neglia from Next Best Picture was especially struck by both the story and the cast, praising Garfield as Altman for being ‘as unsettling and transformative’ as he's ever been. Yura Borisov gets high marks for bringing some genuine soul to Sutskever, a man torn up by the world-altering thing he's helped unleash. With Damon Albarn (yes, from Blur) delivering an electronic, atmospheric score, Neglia sees this as both Guadagnino's funniest and scariest work, managing to be ‘provocative, engaging, and downright horrifying’ all at once.

Variety's Clayton Davis went all in on the doom-and-greed angle, and just to drive the point home, here's what he posted after the premiere:

‘Luca Guadagnino's Artificial tells the true story of the five days in November 2023 when humanity probably had its last real shot at survival, and blew it because of money and small-dick tech bros. We are so cooked. All that aside, it's Guadagnino's best film in a decade, with Andrew Garfield and Yura Borisov soaring to new heights. Loved it. #Artificial’

If you're getting Social Network vibes from all this, you're not alone. Joshua Rothkopf drew the comparison directly, saying that Guadagnino ‘just ate Sorkin’s lunch’ with a spiritual successor to Fincher's Facebook drama, combining betrayal, dodgy ethics, and a Bowie-esque Albarn score (which, let's be honest, no one saw coming).

Jada Yuan, a freelance writer, called Artificial ‘a horror comedy about the destruction of humanity, in real time’, noting that while you're laughing at these absurd characters, the disturbing bit is that they actually exist and really are running the world. Not exactly a comforting notion, and she pushed the point that the info in the film already feels outdated—because the real story keeps getting weirder by the month.

Greg Pomes praised the film as a real Social Network sequel in spirit, raving about Garfield becoming Altman and pegging Yura Borisov as the film's breakout. Jairo Jiménez called Garfield's performance ‘terrifyingly precise’, balancing obsessed genius with that slightly robotic corporate presence. If Altman has ever secretly wanted to come across as a Bond villain, this might do the trick.