Amazon Studios is bailing on its project ARTIFICIAL, a new movie by Luca Guadagnino about the palace intrigue at the founding of Open AI. The movie concentrates primarily on the role of founder Sam Altman, who has become an extraordinarily wealthy and influential player in Silicon Valley’s technology circles, with the ascendance of AI. The fusion of technology, business, politics and media was the foundation of an interesting movie script, but one which presents complications for its corporate backers. Two months after the re-election of Donald Trump in November 2024, Amazon made headlines when it announced it had spent $40M to acquire the rights to a documentary of the First Lady, Melania Trump. The studio spent an additional $35M to promote the movie, including a wide theatrical release to 1000’s of movie theatres. Amazon has a sizeable business portfolio with the U.S. Federal Government, and many saw its MELANIA investment as a direct attempt to ingratiate the company with the new administration.
Amazon’s head of film Mike Hopkins is reported to have made the decision to sell its rights to the project after watching a cut of the nearly completed film, which takes a critical look at Altman’s character and his machinations to maintain control of the company. More recently, the Open AI founder has taken steps to position himself and his company as a friend of the current U.S. administration. The obvious speculation is that releasing a scathing documentary about Altman might have negative repercussions for Amazon, both with the government and Open AI, which is a sizeable customer of Amazon’s services.
