Amazon has decided not to distribute the forthcoming Sam Altman biopic titled ‘Artificial,’ a move that comes as OpenAI edges closer to a potential public offering. The e-commerce giant made this choice despite ongoing negotiations with the film’s creators to find another distributor, as reported by Puck.
The project, which centers on OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman and includes Tesla and xAI founder Elon Musk, reportedly portrays both tech figures in a less than flattering light. This may have contributed to Amazon’s decision, even though the company expressed confidence in the director’s vision. Observers note that the timing is notable given Amazon’s deepening ties with OpenAI, including a recent multi-billion-dollar investment commitment tied to future milestones.
Amazon’s exit follows its major cloud computing agreement with OpenAI last year. While the company has not officially linked the two, the sequence of events has sparked discussion across both Hollywood and the tech industry. Meanwhile, OpenAI is actively preparing for a stock market debut, having confidentially filed a draft registration with U.S. regulators. Altman has hinted that an IPO could occur within the next year, though he emphasized that the timeline remains flexible based on market conditions and company priorities.
Adding to the momentum, OpenAI recently signed a significant enterprise deal with BBVA, expanding ChatGPT Enterprise access to the bank’s entire workforce of 120,000 employees across 25 countries. This deployment is among the largest generative AI rollouts in financial services and includes applications for customer service, risk analysis, software development, and internal operations. With these developments, scrutiny of OpenAI and its leadership is intensifying, making Amazon’s withdrawal from the biopic particularly noteworthy as IPO expectations build.