Andrew Garfield’s ‘Artificial’ wins praise from critics ahead of December release

Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial is receiving strong early reviews following its world premiere at the NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL, with critics praising the drama about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the development of artificial intelligence.

Andrew Garfield stars as Altman in the PG 13 film, which begins in 2003 and traces the origins and development of AI before moving into Altman’s story. The cast also includes Yuri Borisov as OpenAI co founder Ilya Sutskever, Mark Rylance as AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk and Monica Barbaro as Mira Murati.

As of Tuesday, Artificial had earned a 91% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes from reviews counted by the site. The response has been largely positive, although one critic has given the film a negative rating.

Owen Gleiberman of Variety described the film as a brilliant but playful docudrama and praised its exploration of AI, while Zachary Lee of The Wrap called its approach thrilling, creative and provocative. The Daily Beast critic Nick Schager described the film as engrossing, while Deadline critic Pete Hammond highlighted its dark comedy and increasingly frightening tone.

David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter also praised Guadagnino’s direction, describing the film as one of the filmmaker’s strongest works. Tim Grierson of Screen International offered the only negative review, arguing that Simon Rich’s screenplay does not provide enough insight into the people who developed the technology.

Artificial faced a major change before reaching cinemas. Amazon MGM Studios dropped the project on June 19, saying the film would be better served by another distributor. Neon acquired worldwide distribution rights 11 days later.

Guadagnino directs from Rich’s screenplay, with the film scheduled to open in cinemas on December 25. Its critical reception has drawn attention ahead of its theatrical release, particularly because of its focus on AI and the people behind its development.