Actor Ike Barinholtz is reportedly joining the cast as Elon Musk, the world’s richest individual, in a forthcoming comedy-drama focusing on the short-lived suspension of billionaire Sam Altman from his CEO role at OpenAI in 2023.
What insights do we possess regarding the portrayal of Musk?
In a recent post, entertainment journalist Matthew Belloni shared that Musk might “probably hate” the portrayal of him in the script “Artificial,” adding that Musk is described as a “dictator” in one part of the script.
Belloni’s observations suggest the film might undergo significant writing and editing in the future since he pointed out that Musk сould be featured in a few scenes of “villainy and comic relief” in the final draft. Other billionaires included in the draft, according to Belloni, include former OpenAI vice president of research and current CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
What was the reason behind Sam Altman’s termination from OpenAI?
Sam Altman, who is known for co-founding OpenAI in 2015 and became CEO in 2019, was let go from his position on November 17, 2023, by the company’s board who, as a statement, declared that they had “lost confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”
In its announcement, the board claimed Altman had not been candid with them, although the explanations provided were vague around the shocking detail of his firing.
The next year, board member Helen Toner, one of the people that helped Altman get fired, claimed that Altman had made the board’s job “really difficult” by “withholding information, misrepresenting things that were happening at the company” and “outright lying to the board” and not telling the board about ChatGPT’s 2022 launch. She also claimed two executives stated they had endured “psychological abuse” and a “toxic atmosphere” that Altman created.
After Altman’s firing, hundreds of employees at OpenAI issued threats of resignation, which led the board to announce that Altman was to be reinstated on November 22. Sutskever, who features in the film “Artificial”, was said to be a driving force in the attempt to remove Altman, although he later expressed remorse for the decision and signed the open letter claiming that he and many others would quit if Altman was not reinstated.
Has he been depicted by actors before?
Elon Musk has been parodied multiple times on “Saturday Night Live,” and criticized SNL on X for it. After Dana Carvey performed as Elon Musk in a post-election show in November, Musk tweeted, “SNL” has been ‘dying slowly for years’ as they become more and more out of touch with reality.
In a different post, he remarked, “Dana Carvey just sounds like Dana Carvey.” Musk was humorously impersonated a few months later by Mike Myers, which led the billionaire to tweet: “SNL hasn’t been funny in a long time. They are their parody.” Musk hosted “SNL” in 2021, and three years later, cast member Chloe Fineman claimed he was “rude” on set and made her cry by saying a sketch she made was “not funny.”
Forbes valuation
Forbes estimates Elon Musk’s net worth at $415 billion as of Wednesday, thus making him the wealthiest person in the world. He owns roughly 12% of Tesla and 42% of SpaceX, both companies which he co-founded. Altman’s net worth, also a Forbes estimate, sits at $1.8 billion, largely attributed to his investments in Stripe, Reddit, and other companies.
