Amazon is already making a movie about the 2023 OpenAI and Sam Altman boardroom drama

Amazon’s MGM Studios is fast-tracking a movie called Artificial about OpenAI‘s 2023 boardroom drama that saw CEO Sam Altman fired and then rehired, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Luca Guadagnino (Challengers, After the Hunt) is in talks to direct and A-list actors including Andrew Garfield and Monica Barbero are reportedly interested. Shooting may start as soon as this summer in Italy and San Francisco.

The timeline of OpenAI’s travails took place over just a week and unfolded like a telenovela. It commenced with the shocking termination of Altman on November 17, 2024, reportedly for not being “consistently candid” with the board. Microsoft, a close OpenAI partner, was furious with the decision and announced shortly afterward that it was starting its own AI division with Altman at the head.

Later, the entire OpenAI staff told the board in an open letter that it would resign and join the new Microsoft subsidiary if Altman didn’t return to the company as CEO. Things were looking dire until the last minute when the board finally caved and hired Altman back. OpenAI’s original board was also disbanded and replaced with a temporary three-man board.

With that level of corporate intrigue and hundreds of billions of dollars at stake, it’s easy to see why Amazon wants to be first with a movie on the subject. The movie could star Garfield as Altman, Barbero as CTO Mira Murati and Yura Borisov (Anora) as Ilya Sutskever, an OpenAI co-founder who spearheaded the charge to fire Altman.