Luca Guadagnino's OpenAI Movie Will Depict Elon Musk: He's ‘Not So Bad, as Far as Dictators Go,' Says the Script — Report
According to Belloni, the movie, set for 2026 and produced by Amazon of all places, depicts many of the heavy hitters in the A.I. world but focuses on Ilya Sutskever (to be played by 'Anora' Oscar-nominee Yura Borisov), the engineer who co-founded OpenAI. Belloni writes that the character is 'leveraged, marginalized, and ultimately betrayed by both his power-hungry friend Altman and the larger Silicon Valley community — with potentially disastrous consequences for all of humanity.'
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Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, a leader that was ousted for five days in November 2023 before making a comeback — the period on which the purported comedy focuses. Altman apparently does not come off too rosy in the script, with Belloni writing that the character is 'a liar and a master schemer.' But where Altman is a leading character in the story, another tech heavy hitter makes an impression, too, albeit in what appears to be more of a cameo.
Elon Musk helped found OpenAI but later left. Belloni writes that while he is a 'minor character,' Musk is 'probably not gonna like this portrayal.' He previewed one line of dialogue, in which Mira Murati, former chief technology officer of Open AI, says, 'Elon's not so bad, as far as dictators go.' Monica Barbaro is currently set to deliver that dialogue, by the way.
Belloni cites an unnamed source who said that other studios were afraid of making a movie that took on Musk, Altman, and A.I. 'I'm honestly a little surprised that Amazon would make this movie,' he writes. He also speculates that, if 'Artificial' is successful, it could do the kind of damage to A.I. that 'The Social Network' did to Facebook.
'So I suppose it's surprising and applause-worthy that Amazon would make this 'Artificial' movie,' Belloni concludes. 'Even with the company's vast resources and relative strength in the tech hierarchy, it's still a risk to paint some of the most powerful people in the world as reckless with a technology that — if you believe their own words — is perhaps the most dangerous the world has ever seen. Especially when Amazon is playing that same dangerous game.'
Audiences — and perhaps Musk's own Grok — will have a chance to form their owns opinions next year.
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