Deepfaking Sam Altman opens at NYC’s Quad Cinema on January 16, followed by a nationwide theatrical rollout.
By Elazar Abrahams
The idea behind Deepfaking Sam Altman is quite clever-sounding. A filmmaker tries to interview one of the most consequential people in tech, can’t get access, and decides to build an AI version of him instead. Unfortunately, this is a movie that never quite decides what it is, then mistakes that indecision for innovation.
Directed by Adam Bhala Lough, the film starts with OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman not responding to his messages, and he keeps hitting roadblocks in trying to get in touch with the mogul. So Lough keeps pivoting, changing focus each time the original conceit wobbles. The result isn’t clever, it’s just pointless, with the doc behaving like it’s obligated to keep going simply because it already started. Sometimes it really is okay to give up. If the core hook of the film you envisioned collapses, the bold move is not always to retrofit a new movie on top of the wreckage.
Lough’s personality helps the movie coast for some stretches. He’s naturally funny, and his casual, shruggy attitude gives a lot scenes a breezy watchability. That vibe can be charming, but can also feel like a cover for the fact that the film isn’t building toward anything concrete.
Then there’s the biggest problem: the discussion of AI itself. The movie is already outdated. AI is evolving at a ridiculous pace, especially in generative media. OpenAI’s Sora rollout alone shows how quickly “impressive” becomes baseline, with the platform moving from early research previews to widely-used video tools and then a newer Sora 2 model emphasizing realism and control. Against that backdrop, the “deepfaked Altman” element here simply isn’t impressive enough to carry the shock value the title promises. It’s not that deepfakes are not dangerous. They are. It’s that this film’s version of the trick doesn’t land as a jaw-dropper in 2026.
And so, a timely ethical provocation this is not.
I give Deepfaking Sam Altman a C-.
TV and City 