Few will forget the tumultuous few weeks during 2023 when OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman was fired and then returned to his position at the pioneering Artificial Intelligence company. Perhaps it’s no surprise that such a startling turn of events is now fodder for a major motion picture.
Little is known about the Amazon Studios/MGM production beyond a smattering of casting news and rumors. What we do know is that Andrew Garfield (star of The Social Network) is cast as Sam Altman, and Monica Barbaro is playing former Interim OpenAI CEO Mira Murati. Beyond that, we have a handful of stars, including Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, and Billie Lourd, who remain unassigned to roles (none of them seem a good fit for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella). On Tuesday, Chris O’Dowd (Black Mirror, The IT Crowd) joined the list, but without any details on who the Irish actor would be playing.
No doubt, the film is full of high drama, some absurdity, and juicy roles, but perhaps none will blend it all like the casting of X owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Altman before walking away in 2018, has been a thorn in Altman’s side for almost a decade – even during the Altman firing turmoil. Musk inserted himself, highlighting an unsigned letter full of accusations against Altman.
Things between the two men haven’t improved. In recent days, Altman and Musk have tussled over ChatGPT’s position in the Apple Store. Musk contends Apple is unfairly highlighting and promoting its AI partner over X’s AI offering, the freshly updated Grok.
Sparks are flying
Musk tweeted this week: “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation. xAI will take immediate legal action.”
To which Altman replied: “This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.”
Clearly, an on-screen depiction of their toxic relationship could be cinematic gold. But who will play Musk opposite Garfield’s Altman?
Ike Barinholtz (The Studio) has been rumored, but nothing is confirmed. Could O’Dowd be the true “Musk” in waiting?
From our perspective, though, there’s no question which of the two should play Musk. Anyone who’s spent any time around him knows Musk has an odd, quirky, and off-kilter energy. O’Dowd is too low-key key but Barinholtz? If you watched any part of Apple TV+’s Emmy-nominated The Studio, you know Bariholtz, who plays studio exec Sal Saperstein, has just the right blend of kinetic energy, unpredictability, and odd pathos to pull it off.
At least that’s our hope. A movie called Artificial about the darkest days of OpenAI’s history won’t be worth watching unless it gets very, very real.
