A well-known actor with a history of playing tech-related roles is now involved in one of the most controversial stories in the world of artificial intelligence.
A film is in the works about one of the most dramatic events in recent tech history: the five-day ousting and return of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. The $40 million movie, titled Artificial, is being funded by Amazon and is set to premiere in 2026.
According to Puck News, which has obtained an early version of the Artificial script, the film heavily focuses on Ilya Sutskever’s role—one of OpenAI’s co-founders and a former board member—in removing Altman. Reportedly, in the Hollywood version of the story, none of the main characters are portrayed in an entirely positive light—not even Altman himself. Figures like Elon Musk and Dario Amodei will also make brief appearances in the movie.
Who’s playing who in Artificial? According to information released on IMDb, several key roles have been cast. Andrew Garfield, the acclaimed actor known for his role as Spider-Man and the film The Social Network, will portray Sam Altman. Garfield’s prior experience in tech-centered dramas has made his involvement in this project particularly intriguing to fans.
As reported by Business Insider, the role of Ilya Sutskever will be played by Russian actor and Oscar nominee Yura Borisov, known for his work in The Whaler Boy. Sutskever played a crucial role in founding OpenAI and voted to remove Altman, but later expressed regret over his decision. A few months later, he left OpenAI entirely and founded a new research lab focused on “safe superintelligence.” Interestingly, according to the script, Sutskever is the only character portrayed in a relatively positive light in the film.
Finally, Monica Barbaro, who starred in the Oscar-nominated film A Perfect Stranger, will portray Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI. Murati briefly served as interim CEO during Altman’s temporary dismissal but returned to her prior role after his reinstatement. She left the company in 2024 and founded a mysterious startup called Thinking Machines Lab, which focuses on human-AI collaboration.
