Film warns AI is as powerful and dangerous as scientists claim

Summarised from 2 outlets · 4 reports · Updated 13 Oct, 04:56 · Archive

Screenwriter Simon Rich says the film Artificial aims to warn people that AI is as powerful and dangerous as scientists claim.

Screenwriter Simon Rich of the film Artificial has said AI is 'just as powerful and just as dangerous as the scientists claim that it is'. The film, directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, screened at the BFI London Film Festival ahead of its wider release. Rich told the Press Association that he wanted the film to act as a warning to the public.

Rich said he came to the subject through an unusual route: an OpenAI scientist who was his oldest friend and kindergarten companion. The scientist had been warning him about artificial intelligence technology for decades, but Rich did not take him seriously until he joined OpenAI. About a year before ChatGPT came out, the scientist showed him what the company was working on.

'I was sufficiently terrified that I felt the urge to warn people,' Rich said of that experience. He emphasised that AI was not a temporary phenomenon like previous technology trends. 'It's not, unfortunately, a fad like NFTs or Beanie Babies. It is an actual historical reality that this technology now exists.'

Film warns AI is as powerful and dangerous as scientists claim — Image: Evening Standard

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AI film Artificial is the talking point of 2026. Here’s whyArtificial film review and star rating: ★★★★★ It isn’t typically a film’s duty to push a political agenda, but with Artificial, the biopic of OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman, there is a clear call to action. It is inevitable that people will ask: ‘What can this film do?’ Luca Guadagnino’s eleventh film is a particularly disturbing [...]City AM · 13 Oct, 04:45
Artificial - London Film Festival: OpenAI drama is scariest film of the yearLuca Guadagnino’s look into AI is a chilling experience starring Andrew Garfield as Sam AltmanEvening Standard · 12 Oct, 14:38
Artificial writer says AI ‘just as powerful and dangerous’ as scientists claimLuca Guadagnino’s film stars Andrew Garfield as OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.Evening Standard · 12 Oct, 05:48
Artificial writer says AI ‘just as powerful and dangerous’ as scientists claimLuca Guadagnino’s film stars Andrew Garfield as OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.Evening Standard · 11 Oct, 22:14

In this story: Simon Rich · Luca Guadagnino · Andrew Garfield · Sam Altman · OpenAI · BFI London Film Festival

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