At the time, Mark Zuckerberg judged his portrayal of The Social Network by Jesse Eisenberg to be a surreal experience, and that assessment isn’t far off from Sam Altman‘s take, CEO of OpenAI and the father of ChatGPT, who commented to Vanity Fair on his own portrayal in Artificial by Luca Guadagnino, where it is embodied by Andrew Garfield. Until now only Sam’s brother had spoken out about the film, starting from the teaser trailer, and Altman himself actually builds his reaction on very little, albeit he watched that little with his own eyes.
[photo of Sam Altman courtesy of Steve Jurvetson, from Wikimedia Commons]
Sam Altman saw from afar Andrew Garfield portraying him on the set
In Artificial by Luca Guadagnino, the OpenAI CEO, at the helm of that AI revolution with ChatGPT, is portrayed by Andrew Garfield: according to the first teaser released some time ago, for Sam’s brother, Jack Altman, at least the way of walking was spot on. He follows the same ironically detached stance that Sam himself adopts, who says: “There were warnings in our path, they said they would set up some sets. I didn’t realize what was happening, I didn’t pay attention. Then one morning, walking down the street for a coffee, there were cameras and a guy dressed exactly like me, with my same backpack, and he walked in a way so similar to mine that I felt in some sort of absurd glitch, in some simulation. It was very strange. And at that moment I immediately realized what was happening. I waved with my hand and moved on, but it was really surreal. I mean, it’s odd to see someone who nails your distinctive poses so well. Anyway, my only interaction [with Garfield] was that hand wave, and that’s all”.
But Sam isn’t going to dodge the question? What impression did the teaser leave? “Having seen the trailer, I don’t think they’re aiming for accuracy. So from that point of view it doesn’t bother me. I mean, they’re trying to make a good film and maybe it will be. I don’t know. Good as a movie, but not good if viewed as an accurate portrait, walking aside. […] I don’t have a bunker with weapons on the wall. That’s an example of inaccuracy, but it makes me look cool.”
In the same venue, Altman also denied that he or his collaborators pressured Amazon MGM Studios (after a billion-dollar deal signed with OpenAI) to cancel the film’s American release, now moved to Neon. A case where someone was more realistic than the king?
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