Artificial - Review (London Film Festival 2026)
Updated: 6 hours ago
Don't Be Scared.
Seen at the BFI London Film Festival 2026
Review written by Jack Aling
Artificial is directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Simon Rich.
Starring Andrew Garfield, Yura Borisov, Jason Schwartzman & Cooper Koch.
When computer scientist Ilya Sutskever and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton make a breakthrough they're certain will alter humanity forever, the most prominent figures in Silicon Valley race to become a part of their vision. Years later, after a chance meeting with Sam Altman, Sutskever and a group of idealistic entrepreneurs create OpenAI with backing from Elon Musk and assistance from engineer Mira Murati.
Humans crave efficiency. As much as possible, as quickly as possible.
Crossing the Golden Gate Strait in San Francisco used to take one hour by boat. Once they figured out how to build a bridge strong enough, that same journey now takes two minutes by car. How we do anything is how we do everything…
Not a vision of the future, but a look back at how we got to our present, Artificial documents the creation of OpenAI and how tools as harmful as ChatGPT fell into the hands of everyday people.
Yura Borisov's Ilya Sutskever, at one point in time, had the best of intentions for his breakthrough in Artificial General Intelligence, or 'AGI'. Yet along came Silicon Valley with people like Sam Altman and Elon Musk circling AGI like vultures wanting to turn his breakthrough into something far more… radical.
Andrew Garfield gives a chilling performance as Altman. A supposed visionary stunted by his own vanity, so desperately chasing a seat at the table that he nods and smiles and agrees with his sparkly eyes, without ever once acknowledging the warnings or consequences.
It has been a while since a film has left me this dazed and confused. It's hard to put into words the dread that I was left with as the handwritten title card appeared in the credits. The energetic pace and momentum is scattered with disconcerting sinister moments, a haunting score and deceitful performances.
There are scenes throughout that feel like satire or caricature, but the sinking gut punch is that all Artificial does is hold a mirror up to reality. These are real people. These events have already happened. Luca Guadagnino chose to tell this story now, not as a warning, but to prepare us for what is to come. The future is here; we're already in it.
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