Neon has unveiled the first teaser for Luca Guadagnino’s Sam Altman biopic, Artificial, after Amazon abruptly canceled its support for the film earlier this year.
With the director behind Challengers at the helm and a star-studded cast, the first teaser for the OpenAI movie somehow manages to surprise. In a little more than a minute, the trailer promises a tense look into Altman’s life that leans heavily on the horror vibes, with the video teasing a peek behind the curtain into the events that led to the creation of controversial tech tool ChatGPT.
Altman, played by Andrew Garfield (The Social Network, The Amazing Spider-Man), can be seen walking through dark corridors backed by eerie strings before reaching a blue-lit room loaded with guns. It looks like the kind of saferoom the OpenAI CEO teased he might have when speaking to The New Yorker in 2016, but the horror elements come from more than the visuals. His character can be heard whispering lines, including “We opened Pandora’s box together” and “We get to be the ones to shepherd people into this new world.”
Garfield walks, talks, acts, and even looks like Altman in the first trailer for Artificial, but he’s far from alone. Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown, Top Gun: Maverick) also shows up in the movie and its first teaser trailer as former OpenAI executive Mira Murati.
Cooper Hoffman (The Long Walk), Yura Borisov (Anora), Jason Schwartzman (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies), and Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids) also have their own roles to play in Guadagnino’s retelling. The role many viewers are likely already keeping an eye out for, though, is Ike Barinholtz’s (The Studio) Elon Musk. Quick flashes of the Tesla boss do appear in the trailer, but they do little to tell watchers what to expect from his portrayal in Artificial.
Despite the star power and talent behind it, Artificial very nearly never came to be. Amazon was previously attached to release the project but chose to cut its involvement in June 2026, just three months ago. The move allegedly came just after multiple private test screenings for the nearly complete movie, leading to confusion amongst fans of Guadagnino’s work. Amazon’s decision to drop Artificial also happened to arrive only a few months after the company committed to a $50 billion investment in OpenAI.
Artificial was dropped by Amazon and eventually picked back up by Neon. It’s now set to come to select theaters Christmas Day 2026. For more on OpenAI, you can read about how the tech company shut down its generative AI app Sora earlier this year.
Michael Cripe
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
