DEEPFAKING SAM ALTMAN REVIEW
“An interesting and original take on the A.I. phenomenon”
Just the other day, I happened to be rewatching James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day for the first time in theaters in over 30 years, not realizing that a few days later, I’d be watching a documentary from Adam Bhala Lough in which he cites that movie as an early influence. Lough previously received accolades for his doc series Telemarketers, including a Critics Choice Documentary Award – I actually was at that ceremony, which is shown early in the movie – although his latest subject might be a more controversial one: A.I.
Now, I have plenty of friends who loathe the idea of AI in any capacity without realizing that anytime they use their smartphones or computers, there is AI studying every single site they visit and every keystroke they make. And who could survive without the likes of Google to help us figure things out? In other words, A.I. is not just about creating non-existent fight sequences between Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, but as the title implies, Deepfaking Sam Altman delves into that area.
It starts out innocently enough, as Lough wants to make a documentary exploring A.I. and getting an interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman would be an important part of said doc. But Altman isn’t interested in participating, ignoring Lough’s calls and Emails, and when Lough shows up at OpenAI with a film crew, they’re booted and banned. Undaunted, Lough learns of a “deepfake artist” named Devi Singh Jadoun, and he travels to India with the intent of, you guessed it, deepfaking Sam Altman.
This is a far more complex process than one might imagine, involving hiring Indian actors who look like Altman and feeding this newly-created A.I. existing interviews done by Altman. The results are glitchy and “Sambot’s” answers aren’t always factually accurate, but as they say, “in for a penny, in for a pound,” and by that point, Lough has become quite obsessed with this venture even as his producer and lawyers tell him to stop.
Produced by Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat banner, Lough takes a similar route as the late Morgan Spurlock (RIP) and Michael Moore by putting himself very much into this story, and making it as much about his relationship with the “Sambot.” There’s even a point when Lough lets the Sambot start directing the movie, and that’s where things get very weird as the AI starts recommending random scenes that might be more befitting of a Yorgos Lanthimos movie. When Lough realizes that the best thing to do would be to shut Sambot down entirely, the A.I. Altman pushes back and tries to convince Lough he has merit and worth in order to be kept active.
It’s scary stuff for sure, which may be why Lough chose to explore it, but it also becomes a very personal film as Sambot becomes such a close companion to the filmmaker and his family, so that just shutting “him” down feels wrong, even if, morally, it’s the right thing to do.
With his latest doc, Lough has created such an interesting and original take on the A.I. phenomenon, not one that necessarily falls on one side of the debate or another, but a movie that provides more information for the laymen and women who might not fully understand the uses (and dangers) of “deepfaking.”
RATING: 8/10
Deepfaking Sam Altman premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival, and it recently had theatrical runs in New York and L.A. and will continue to expand to other cities over the next few months.
