Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial will no longer be released by Amazon MGM. 

In a statement sent to Deadline, the studio said: “We have the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award-winning filmmaker – not to mention a longstanding relationship that we hope to continue. We believe that Artificial will be better served if it were released by a different studio and are working closely with the filmmaking team to find the film a new home.”

Puck first reported that Amazon had stepped back from the title. We’ve been told that other studios are currently being screened the film, and talks about the film’s future are ongoing.

Directed by Guadagnino from a screenplay by SNL alum Simon Rich, Artificial explores Sam Altman’s OpenAI and the company’s turbulent period in 2023 when Altman was fired and rehired in a matter of days. 

Artificial was announced last year. The film’s robust ensemble includes Mark Rylance, Andrew Garfield, Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro, Billie Lourd, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Cooper Hoffman and Ike Barinholtz. The pic was set to reunite Guadagnino with Amazon following Challengers and After The Hunt. 

Amazon and OpenAI also have a long-term relationship. Earlier this year, Amazon announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI. Amazon chief Bezos has also been one of the leading advocates for developing AI technology. Last week at a tech conference in Paris, Bezos said he didn’t believe the technology would take jobs from humans but would rather create them. 

“I know there’s a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant and so on,” Bezos said. “I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labour shortage.”

Technology experts from across the political spectrum have contradicted Bezos’ assessment and sounded the alarm about the negative impact AI technology will have on the labor market. Earlier this year, the UK’s Trades Union Congress warned that AI technology could repeat “the disaster of deindustrialisation” as shareholders become wealthier and jobs are “degraded or displaced.”