Sam Altman-OpenAI scandal expected to hit the big screen

A movie on Sam Altman may soon be in the works, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Luca Guadagnino, best known for his works like ‘Call Me by Your Name’ and ‘Challengers’, is reportedly in talks to direct a movie on the chaos that took place at artificial intelligence company OpenAI in 2023, which saw the firing and rehiring of the CEO, all within a few days.

Movie details


The movie, called Artificial, is being developed at Amazon MGM Studios.

As per the report, Andrew Garfield of Spiderman fame, who also acted in The Social Network, a movie about Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, is set to play Altman if “all goes as planned”. Other characters, such as OpenAI's former chief technology officer Mira Murati and cofounder Ilya Sutskever could be played by Monica Barbaro and Yura Borisov, respectively.

Artificial’s screenplay is written by “Saturday Night Live” writer Simon Rich, while the film is being produced by Heyday Films’ David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford.

However, no final deals have been made as of yet.

So, what happened in 2023?

November 2023 was a time of confusion and turmoil at the company, with cofounder Altman dismissed by the OpenAI board from his position as CEO and board member.

The justification behind this move was that the board no longer trusted Altman with the leadership role.

However, much to everyone’s surprise, he was hired back within five days. The rehiring was the result of a threat of a mass exodus by the company's 700ish employees, who stuck by the CEO.

In addition, Microsoft, a major backer of OpenAI, offered to hire those leaving the AI company, forcing the board to change its mind.

While the events were nothing short of dramatic, how the movie will be received by the audience remains to be seen.