Amazon's movie studio has walked away from a nearly finished film about OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman — months after Amazon poured money into the company the movie was about.
According to The New York Times, Amazon MGM Studios has abandoned "Artificial," a drama centered on OpenAI and Altman. The Times reports that Amazon invested $50 billion in the artificial intelligence start-up this year. Rather than shelve the project entirely, the Times says Amazon will let the filmmaking team try to sell it to another studio.
The film was directed by Luca Guadagnino, and according to MSN it was described as "almost completed" when Amazon MGM decided not to move forward. MSN ties the decision directly to OpenAI's investment in the studio.
The Daily Beast, which also covered the news, characterized Amazon MGM as a "Trump-friendly studio" and described the move as an abrupt about-face on a movie about one of technology's most prominent figures.
The sources do not detail exactly why Amazon made the call, what the film depicts, or what Altman or OpenAI think of it. What's clear from the reporting is the timing: a studio dropping a finished or near-finished movie about a company it had just committed billions of dollars to support.
Why it matters: When the same company finances both a powerful AI firm and the films that scrutinize it, the decision to quietly bury an almost-completed biopic raises pointed questions about whether business ties can shape which stories audiences get to see.