Artificial, Luca Guadagnino’s origin story of OpenAI, had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 5, with Neon set to release the film in theaters on December 25. Andrew Garfield stars as Sam Altman, alongside Yura Borisov, Mark Rylance, Cooper Hoffman, Monica Barbaro, Ike Barinholtz, Jason Schwartzman and Chris O’Dowd, with a screenplay by Simon Rich. The reception coming out of NYFF has been close to unanimous on one point: Garfield’s performance is a sensation, with critics ranging from calling Artificial one of Guadagnino’s best films in years to a smaller number raising concerns about the film’s shakier back half.
The film traces the founding and early years of OpenAI, centering on the rivalry and shifting loyalties between Altman and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, played by Borisov, as the company’s mission collides with ambition, money and ego. Elon Musk, played by Barinholtz, also enters the story as an early OpenAI partner whose relationship with Altman eventually sours.
Deadline’s review described the film bluntly as “a modern-day Frankenstein,” with Altman positioned as its central figure. The review frames him as a man who changes his story depending on whoever he happens to be talking to, presenting a character who simply should not be trusted or taken at his word. That interpretation establishes one of the film’s central ideas: the tension between Altman’s public image and the increasingly complicated portrait constructed around him.
Garfield’s performance has emerged as the single most talked-about element of the film. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote that Garfield “plays him as a corporate seducer,” describing a performance that works partly by seducing the audience itself. Gleiberman praised Garfield’s ability to make Altman winsome in his enthusiasm and softly charismatic while presenting him as someone who believes in the right things. As the film progresses, however, Gleiberman found the performance becoming increasingly layered and duplicitous in an almost subliminal way.
The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney offered another striking interpretation of Garfield’s approach to the character. Rooney noted that Guadagnino, a filmmaker who has consistently explored queerness in his work, cast Altman as what he called the “demon twink” archetype. Rooney also praised the way Guadagnino and Rich shape the material, moving from dark humor through technocratic giddiness and eventually toward sobering horror.
Deadline was similarly enthusiastic about Garfield, calling his work “stunning” and praising the actor’s physicality, vocal intonations and ability to channel Altman’s general creepiness. The response suggests that Garfield’s performance is not simply an imitation of a recognizable public figure but a deliberately constructed interpretation that gradually reveals different sides of the character.
Variety’s review went furthest in its praise of the film overall, calling Artificial “the real sequel to The Social Network” and describing it as a “sprawling, enthralling, brain-spinning drama.” Gleiberman characterized the film as “brilliant but playful” while also praising it for remaining “meticulously true to history.” At NYFF, Variety awards columnist Clayton Davis called it “Guadagnino’s best film in a decade,” adding that Garfield and Borisov “soar to new heights.”
IndieWire’s Eric Kohn echoed that enthusiasm, calling Artificial a “pitch-perfect dark comedy about the absence of responsibility in the face of apocalyptic certainty.” The description captures the film’s balance between comedy and unease, particularly as its story deals with the development of technology whose consequences extend well beyond the people responsible for building it.
Not every reaction was uniformly glowing. Awards Radar’s review was largely positive, describing Artificial as a “funny yet also terrifying look” and comparing it favorably with Guadagnino’s Challengers after what the publication characterized as the misfires of Queer and After the Hunt. However, the review also identified structural concerns with the film’s later sections.
Awards Radar noted that Rich’s script is “very funny, especially early on,” but argued that the film begins to lose momentum roughly 90 minutes into its two-hour-and-20-minute running time. The review specifically criticized the treatment of Altman’s brief 2023 firing and rehiring, describing that section of the story as both oddly dull and rushed through in the third act. This represents the clearest criticism emerging from the otherwise enthusiastic response: while the film’s early and middle sections have generated considerable praise, its final stretch may not sustain the same energy.
Social media reactions from the premiere were similarly enthusiastic, although more unfiltered. Next Best Picture’s Matt Neglia wrote that Guadagnino takes some “massive & tricky swings” with Garfield’s portrayal. Critic Jairo Jiménez went even further, declaring that “Luca Guadagnino just ate Sorkin’s lunch,” while calling Artificial the “spiritual sequel to The Social Network” and comparing some of its more tense scenes to The Silence of the Lambs.
Barinholtz’s portrayal of Musk also drew consistent praise as a source of comic relief within the film’s darker tone. Deadline described the performance as amusing and praised Barinholtz for nailing the impression, adding another recognizable public figure to the film’s ensemble while helping maintain its balance between satire, drama and discomfort.
The film’s path to its New York Film Festival premiere was unusually turbulent for a major awards-season title. According to the sourced production history referenced in the article, Amazon MGM Studios originally backed the $40 million film before dropping it, with Variety reporting that the decision may have been connected to the film’s unsympathetic portrayal of both Altman and Musk. Netflix, A24 and Focus Features reportedly passed on picking up the project before Neon closed a deal in June to complete and distribute the film.
That contentious production and distribution history has only added to the sense that Artificial arrives as a provocative, unsanctioned portrait of one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful and scrutinized figures. The film is also arriving at a moment when Altman himself has publicly warned about the risks of the technology he helped build, giving the story an unusually immediate connection to the ongoing conversation surrounding artificial intelligence.
Taken together, the reviews describe a film that has largely succeeded in doing something difficult: turning a recent and still-unfolding corporate saga into a genuinely gripping piece of cinema. At the center of that response is Garfield, whose performance multiple critics are already describing as one of the strongest of his career. Whether Artificial is viewed as Guadagnino’s strongest work in years or as a brilliant first 90 minutes that loses some momentum before the credits roll, the film has emerged from its New York Film Festival premiere as one of the season’s most talked-about and tonally audacious awards contenders.
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Film Details: Artificial
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Writer: Simon Rich
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro, Mark Rylance, Cooper Hoffman, Ike Barinholtz, Jason Schwartzman, Chris O’Dowd, Cooper Koch, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Angus Imrie
Genre: Biographical Comedy Drama
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours 20 minutes
Cinematography: Malik Hassan Sayeed
Music: Damon Albarn
Budget: $40 million
Distributor: Neon
Festival: New York Film Festival 2026
Release Date: December 25, 2026