After stepping into the shoes of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Andrew Garfield admits he is more skeptical of AI technology than ever.
When Andrew Garfield walked down his street for coffee, he encountered a version of himself he didn’t recognize. A man was walking nearby. dressed in his own clothes. wearing his own backpack. and moving with such precise. familiar mannerisms that Garfield felt he had stumbled into a glitch in the simulation. The doppelgänger was a performer on the set of “Artificial. ” a new film detailing the 2023 period when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was temporarily ousted from the company he helped build.
While the resemblance was uncanny enough to startle the real Altman. who later admitted the experience felt “very strange. ” the process of inhabiting the role left Garfield with a lingering sense of apprehension. In an interview published Tuesday. the actor revealed that bringing the tech executive to life on screen did not make him an AI enthusiast. Instead, it deepened his skepticism.
“I got a bit scared. I felt a little mistrusting of the technology,” Garfield said. “It feels like the people who are creating and kind of encouraging us to use the technology don’t exactly know its capacity themselves. So, that feels a little irresponsible to me, personally.”
Despite using ChatGPT as a “kind of fancy Google” for research. Garfield maintains a distance from the tools that have become central to many modern workflows. He views his profession as one that, for now, remains separate from the silicon-driven shifts affecting other industries. “Luckily. I don’t need it in my life in the same way other people in other industries might as an actor. ” he explained.
Directed by Luca Guadagnino and arriving in select theaters on Christmas Day, “Artificial” features an ensemble cast portraying the power brokers of Silicon Valley. Yura Borisov stars as Ilya Sutskever, Monica Barbaro as Mira Murati, Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, and Cooper Hoffman as Greg Brockman.
The central figure of the film has expressed some ambivalence about his cinematic representation. Altman told Vanity Fair he had seen the trailer and conceded that Garfield had mastered his mannerisms. even as he voiced reservations about the film’s fidelity to history. “I’m sure it won’t be accurate. but I hope it’s funny and enjoyable to watch. ” Altman told Politico’s Decoded earlier this week.
The tension between the tech being developed and the people steering it is clear: Garfield’s hesitation stems from the creators’ own lack of certainty. a concern that persists even as the industry moves forward with rapid-fire deployments. The film serves as both a dramatization of corporate upheaval and. for its lead actor. an unsettling brush with a future he is not quite ready to embrace.
Andrew Garfield Sam Altman Artificial OpenAI AI Luca Guadagnino