Andrew Garfield says playing Sam Altman left him mistrustful of AI

Andrew Garfield has said he stopped using ChatGPT after playing OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman in Artificial, explaining that the experience left him uneasy about the technology. 

The actor spoke to Variety at the film's world premiere at the New York Film Festival on Monday, 5 October.

Garfield said he had been using the chatbot as a kind of "fancy Google" for research purposes, but that making the film changed his view. 

Read more: Andrew Garfield gives chilling smile in first ‘Artificial' teaser trailer

"I got a bit scared," he said. He went on to say that he now distrusts the technology, because the people urging the public to adopt it do not seem to fully understand what it can do, which he considers irresponsible. 

He added that, as an actor, he can do without it more easily than people in other industries.

It echoes remarks he made in September on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he compared the reaction to quitting Facebook after The Social Network and said he dropped ChatGPT "immediately".

Asked about comments Altman himself has made about the film, Garfield responded with sympathy. 

He called it a generous thing for the OpenAI boss to say, and said it must feel strange and surreal for a young man to know a version of him is being portrayed on screen. 

Altman has said he has seen the trailer, that he waved at Garfield when the production filmed near his San Francisco home, and that the actor has captured his walk. 

The two have never spoken. 

Garfield told Esquire UK in August that he has never met Altman and worked from the script, court transcripts and interviews.

At the premiere, Garfield also told the audience at Alice Tully Hall that he prepared "day in and day out" for months to play a living person, calling it a heavy responsibility.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Artificial covers the five days in November 2023 when Altman was fired and then reinstated. 

Yura Borisov plays Ilya Sutskever, Ike Barinholtz plays Elon Musk, Cooper Hoffman plays Greg Brockman and Mark Rylance plays Geoffrey Hinton. Neon releases it in select cinemas on Christmas Day.

Read more: Andrew Garfield is done apologising for long hair