Amazon MGM’s dropping of Luca Guadagnino’s completed biopic of Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, left some wondering what the true motive behind the decision was.

So we asked ChatGPT.

“Amazon MGM hasn’t publicly given a detailed explanation, but the timing strongly suggests a conflict between the movie’s subject matter and Amazon’s increasingly close business relationship with OpenAI,” it said.

Even OpenAI’s own AI is suspicious.

While Amazon hasn’t stated the reason for suddenly dropping “Artificial,” which tells the story of Altman at the peak of his contested leadership at OpenAI and stars Andrew Garfield, the decision touches on the simmering fear of Big Tech as it further wraps its arms around Hollywood. Many have concluded that the decision at the movie studio is driven by Amazon’s $50 billion investment in OpenAI made just four months ago and OpenAI’s planned initial public offering, which could happen as early as this year.

If this did play into the decision, it would represent the starkest example of Big Tech siding with business interests over creative freedom — marking the first time a studio has abandoned a nearly complete film for such reasons. It comes as Amazon MGM has been trying to establish an identity as a studio with its films, and has enjoyed an early hit with “Project Hail Mary.” This move could provide a chilling effect just as it was getting off the ground.

“If it’s made very clear out there that they can’t point to any other reason beyond we are not best suited given the subject matter, it definitely will make folks think twice (about bringing packages to Amazon MGM),” a top manager said about the reaction from creatives.

It’s not the first time a big tech company — or Amazon itself — has exerted its influence. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos told The Washington Post, which he owns, that it could not endorse Kamala Harris for president, and pushed its opinion section to pivot to personal liberties and free markets. Apple canceled “The Problem With Jon Stewart” ahead of its third season when executives grew uncomfortable with his approach on sensitive topics like China and artificial intelligence. But Amazon’s move, if prompted by the OpenAI relationship, marks a big escalation. 

Amazon, for its part, hasn’t offered much insight into the decision.

“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,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a Friday statement. “We believe that ‘Artificial’ will 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.”

A spokesman for OpenAI didn’t respond to a request for comment.

What’s the film about?

“Artificial” captures the pivotal stretch in OpenAI’s history when Altman was abruptly fired due to a breakdown in communication and trust, only to be rehired five days later amid a revolt by the staff. His reinstatement led to an overhauling of the board and cemented his position as a true power player just as the AI phenomenon had taken off. 

It’s like “Game of Thrones” in Silicon Valley, but with less murder.

It’s no wonder the script attracted Guadagnino, a critically acclaimed director who rose to fame with 2017’s “Call Me by Your Name,” which garnered four Oscar nominations, including one for best picture.

The project lit a fire under Guadagnino, who seems to love attaching himself to movies almost as much as making them. The filmmaker has a lengthy list of as-yet-unrealized projects, including an adaptation of the Bob Dylan album “Blood on the Tracks,” a retelling of “Lord of the Flies,” an Audrey Hepburn biopic, a “Scarface” remake and, most recently, a “Sgt. Rock and the Easy Company” war movie set in James Gunn’s DCU.

Production started at the end of July 2025, with Oscar nominees Garfield, Monica Barbaro and Yura Borisov cast in key parts alongside Emmy winner Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk.

The film was penned by Simon Rich, a screenwriter who worked on “Saturday Night Live” in the late aughts and early 2010s. Rich was Harvard classmates with Mark Zuckerberg, allowing him to witness the birth of social media firsthand. After seeing his roommate become one of the first dozen Facebook users, Rich decided to swear off social media altogether — an interesting stance for the writer of a biopic that features X-owner Elon Musk.

The final version of “Artificial” took on a darker tone than the initial script, according to Puck. Altman’s character comes off looking the worst, a la Aaron Sorkin’s take on Mark Zuckerberg in 2010’s “The Social Network.” Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM, made the call after watching the film, according to the report. 

The film was finished enough that it had several test screenings that received positive reactions, according to Variety. But one top agent who read the script said it “was a big ‘who cares’ slog.”

Still, at one point, “Artificial” was eyed as a potential Academy Awards homecoming for Guadagnino by Amazon MGM.

An inconvenient release

Amazon tied itself to OpenAI when it committed $50 billion as part of the latest funding round ahead of the AI company’s IPO. The deal was seen as boosting Amazon’s AI capabilities and demand for its Amazon Web Services arm, which has long driven the lion’s share of the tech giant’s profits.

“If you think about it, it’s so early right now in the AI space and OpenAI is off to an amazing start,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassey told CNBC. “They’re going to be one of the very big winners, we believe, long term.”

That stake is poised to explode in value with an OpenAI IPO. But the startup, and by extension, Amazon, can ill-afford the bad publicity that “Artificial” would presumably generate, especially so close to the offering. OpenAI and Altman are already facing questions about their ability to maintain their dominant position in AI, especially considering the advances made by rival Google and its Gemini model.

“It’s undoubtable that Amazon’s $50B OpenAI investment earlier this year influenced the decision to dump the film,” said the top agent.

Amazon has shown a willingness to bend in Hollywood when there’s something to gain. Just look at the $75 million it put out for the Melania Trump documentary.

Chilling effect

This move is bad timing for another reason: Amazon MGM is still trying to establish itself as a serious player in Hollywood.

While Amazon closed its acquisition of MGM in 2022, it’s just getting its own slate of films out now. And while “Project Hail Mary” was an unmitigated success, that same stretch also saw three high-profile flops in “Mercy,” “Crime 101” and “Masters of the Universe,” none of which made their budgets back. 

Pulling out of a nearly completed film from a respected director like Guadagnino will have ripple effects in Hollywood.

It gives creatives another studio to be wary of. Paramount, which is in the middle of closing its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, is viewed by many with some suspicion as it continues to consolidate media power.

At least one studio, Sony Pictures, doesn’t seem deterred by Big Tech’s influence. In October, it plans to release “The Social Reckoning,” meant as a biting follow-up to the aforementioned “The Social Network.”

Unless, perhaps, Meta finds a way to intervene.

Umberto Gonzalez contributed to this story.

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