Andrew Garfield, who stars as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in the upcoming biopic Artificial, recently revealed that he once viewed the tech executive as a potential confidant.
During a Q&A session following an AMPAS screening of the film at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, Garfield reflected on his initial impressions of Altman.
The first time I saw Sam, he was testifying in front of Congress and he was saying incredibly righteous stuff,
Andrew Garfield, actor
Garfield noted that he was struck by Altman’s apparent altruism and his meditation practices with Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield. He’s genuinely great and he seems to really have his values and priorities in the right place,
Garfield told the audience. This guy might be like my future best friend.
The actor also highlighted what he viewed as the courage required for an out gay tech genius to testify before Republican members of Congress. The 43-year-old British actor plays Altman in the biographical drama directed by Luca Guadagnino.
Garfield admitted that the executive initially convinced him that he was purely altruistic, though he acknowledged that the situation is all playing out
and declined to offer further direct criticism of the billionaire executive.
In addition to portraying the tech billionaire, Garfield has experience with technology-focused drama, having previously played Eduardo Saverin in David Fincher’s 2010 film The Social Network. At its core, Artificial is a story about who controls technology, the power struggles inside Silicon Valley, and the real fears surrounding the rise of AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence.
Garfield described the broader stakes of artificial intelligence as terrifying, suggesting that artists and powerful figures must participate in regulation to prevent giving the future away and losing human autonomy.
The production of Artificial has become the subject of conflicting accounts regarding an alleged meeting between the actor and the real-life Altman.
I wasn’t there,
Garfield stated, adding that he had replayed the interview multiple times in an attempt to understand the anecdote. I never had any interaction with him. I’ve never seen him in real life.
Altman had previously told Vanity Fair that he encountered a man dressed exactly like him, complete with a signature backpack, while walking to get coffee. According to Altman, the experience felt like a glitch of the simulation, and he maintained that they exchanged waves.
Garfield confirmed that the crew filmed outside the executive’s residence on an eerie day, noting they were informed the CEO was away and that security personnel were present, but insisted he never laid eyes on Altman himself. An OpenAI representative told GQ that Altman was home during the filming and maintained that the two had waved at one another.
The film features a cast including Yura Borisov as Ilya Sutskever, Cooper Hoffman as Greg Brockman, Monica Barbaro as Mira Murati, Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, Mark Rylance as Geoffrey Hinton, Jason Schwartzman, Chris O’Dowd, Zosia Mamet, Cooper Koch, and Billie Lourd.
The biographical comedy-drama was originally set up at Amazon MGM Studios before being acquired by Neon.