Tina Kakadelis
Artificial intelligence is on the minds of everyone at the moment. Back in the ’80s, it was a pipe dream of sorts. Terminator could still just be a fun science-fiction flick and not the fear-inducing piece of speculative fiction it has morphed into. For many filmmakers, Terminator plays some role in the development of this love of film. One of those filmmakers is director Adam Bhala Lough. He’s known for his work on Telemarketers, and decided to cash in on that recent success to dive into the world of artificial intelligence. His latest documentary, Deepfaking Sam Altman, had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. It follows Adam’s quest to not only find Sam Altman, but to sit down with him for an interview.
Adam has interviewed his fair share of hard-to-reach people, like Lil Wayne and Julien Assange, but Sam Altman will prove to be his toughest interview to land. Sam has been described as many things. The father of AI, the Oppenheimer of our time, but few are able to meet the man behind those labels. Adam is confident that he can reach Sam, but that proves not to be the case, so he turns to the technology Sam has created. In lieu of interviewing the real Sam Altman, Adam plans to hire someone to make an AI chat bot that’s loaded with all of Sam’s public interviews. Then, Adam will sit down with an actor who will play Sam. They’ll use deepfake technology to superimpose Sam’s face onto the actor for the interview. The more enmeshed in the AI world he becomes, the more difficult the project reveals itself to be.
AI is playing a role in all of our lives, and more people are relying on it for their daily tasks, but with this technology so widespread, there’s this concern about potential unintended ramifications. In theory, the existence of a computer program that could write this review in mere seconds, rather than me taking an hour or more out of my busy SXSW day is intriguing. However, when you turn to AI in this capacity, you’re losing the distinctly human touch that is essential. What’s the point of art that was made without human perspective? That’s not to say all computer-made art lacks the human touch; there are plenty of examples of work where the computer is merely the tool for the artist’s hand. In the case of AI, the program is the tool and the hand all-in-one. Without the living heart underneath, what remains? There’s something soulless in what artificial intelligence pumps out, and the ease with which it can be used doesn’t outweigh the inferior product.
Deepfaking Sam Altman captures the world on a precipice. We’re turning a corner, and we must decide what we value. Adam begins the film as a skeptic, and continues that way for a while because of all of the secrecy surrounding OpenAI. He does, however, fall a little under the spell of the chat bot, lovingly referred to as Sam Bot, as the film goes on. The true heartbeat of the documentary is Adam working to understand what will ultimately bring the most value to his life. Is it Sam Bot, who is very good at parroting back the things that Adam wants to hear? Or is it the living, breathing connections that take more effort to cultivate, but will provide something deeper? It’s a crossroads many will find themselves at in the coming years. Do we go for simplicity or do we roll up our sleeves and get to work?
As someone who actively avoids AI as much as possible, Deepfaking Sam Altman provided a voyeuristic look into how this technology is being used. There’s a simultaneous sense of relief and fear that runs throughout the film: relief, because it’s still clear that AI has its shortcomings and is nowhere near where it could be, but also fear, because of the lackadaisical nature of the people in charge of the technology. Sam has blatantly stated that the repercussions of AI are unknown, but that they are going to continue to blaze ahead. It’s the old Silicon Valley adage of “move fast, break things,” but look at where that’s gotten us. Deepfaking Sam Altman argues that perhaps, just this once, we should slow down and fix things first.
