Amazon Cancels Release of its Answer to The Social Network (Months After Partnering with the AI Company It's About)
Amazon MGM Studioshas officially shelved its movie on OpenAI, despite the project being deep in post-production, according to a new report. The movie,Artificial, is directed by Luca Guadagnino and stars. . .
Amazon MGM Studioshas officially shelved its movie on OpenAI, despite the project being deep in post-production, according to a new report. The movie,Artificial, is directed by Luca Guadagnino and stars Andrew Garfield (who has precedent with this sort of tech industry biopic, of course) as divisive OpenAI CEO and occasionally accused transhumanist Sam Altman. It will focus on his controversial firing and rehiring by the OpenAI board in 2023, and also stars Monica Barbaro, Yura Borisov, Cooper Koch, Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk. Initially set for release through Amazon MGM Studios around early 2027, it’s now suffered a significant setback. According to Matt Belloni atPuck News, Amazon MGM Studios has dropped the film entirely, and it will now be shopped to other studios. THRfollowed up with a statement from the studio: “We have the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award-winning filmmaker — not to mention a longstanding relationship that we hope to continue. We believe thatArtificialwill be better served if it were released by a different studio and are working closely with the filmmaking team to find the film a new home. ” There’s more relevant context to mention here, too, if not exactly self-admitted causation, as THR notes, the timing here is interesting, to say the least, coming just months after Amazon invested $50 billion in OpenAI and kicked off a “multi-year strategic partnership” tying the AI company closer to Amazon Web Services. The World Still Deserves Its AI Inside Look (& There’s Hope)Whoever ends up releasing it,Artificialis as important to release asThe Social Networkwas and theforthcoming follow-up,The Social Reckoning(we’re specifically told not to call it a sequel). As the AI companies repeatedly say to anyone willing to put them on a podcast with varying levels of scrutiny ranging from non-existent to mild, it is the single most transformative technology in human history, and holding a microscope up to the secret halls and conference rooms determining how our entire race navigates the “difficult” future they’re building for us. The Social Networkdidn’t exactly show Mark Zuckerberg with glowing reverence, but it offered an important look at a story that has mostly been shaped by PR firms. The Social Reckoningwill continue that, with Zuckerberg no doubt primed to respond to it as “heavily fictionalized” as he did the first movie. It was previously reported (and echoed by THR) that neither Altman nor Musk comes off as “particularly sympathetic” figures, which fits with a growing assessment of both. Despite doing transformative work in science and radically altering the brain chemistry of everyone who has bought into their vision of a future free from the tyranny of being able to afford to eat and pay for housing, both have drawn considerable criticism. Naturally, of course, they’re both popular figures in other circles, and their direct influence on employment can’t be overlooked, given how many people work with the companies. SurelyArtificialwon’t take long to find a new home? It might represent a difficult release for Amazon MGM, whether they eventually offer more details for their abrupt change of heart, but the interest here should still be significant from an audience point of view. The AI Docdrew some attention, and the closer we get to the stock-market-boosting singularity, the more important it is that people are familiar with the stories that led us there. That is, until AI companies strip art out of human hands entirely and tell us we all wanted it this way in the first place. What do you think? Leave a comment belowand join the conversation now in theComicBook Forum!