Amazon passes on 'critical' Sam Altman biopic after OpenAI deal
The movie, which stars Andrew Garfield and Mark Rylance, reportedly portrays Sam Altman as a 'pathological liar'
Amazon has passed over a critical biopic about Sam Altman after investing $50 billion in the tech guru's firm OpenAI.
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Artificial, the film set for release next year, stars Andrew Garfield as Altman, the founder of the company behind ChatGPT, who is portrayed as a pathological liar.
Elon Musk, played by Ike Barinholtz, is reportedly also portrayed in a negative light.
The almost-completed movie by Luca Guadagnino, the director behind Challengers featuring Zendaya and Josh O'Connor and Call Me By Your Name with Timothée Chalamet, was also passed over by Warner Bros. and Netflix.
Amazon told Variety that the subject matter had not influenced the decision to reject the film, insisting it would be "better served" at another studio.
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The $2.52tn tech firm said it had the "upmost respect and admiration" for Guadagnino, and that it was working with filmmakers to locate a willing studio.
Artificial charts a brief window in 2023 when Altman was sacked from OpenAI - the firm he co-founded with Elon Musk in 2015 as a non-profit dedicated to developing AI for the "human good" - before being rehired.
The company went on to found the enormously successful AI chatbot, ChatGPT, in 2022 which now has more than 900 million weekly users.
The almost-completed movie also stars Mark Rylance, Chris O’Dowd and Jason Schwartzman.
In February, ChatGPT completed a record-breaking $110 billion funding round, with $50 billion financed by Amazon.
The news of Amazon's rejection has stoked fears that films critical of giants in the tech world will struggle to find a major studio willing to take them on.
It echoes complaints which surrounded the 2024 movie The Apprentice, which charted the rise of a young Donald Trump in the 1970 and 80s.
However the movie may also benefit from the Streisand effect - when attempts to block the release of information generates greater interest.
Joe Russo, a filmmaker, said Amazon's move made Artificial “one of the most important movies of the decade”.