In an era dominated by artificial intelligence and rapid technological change, the documentary Deepfaking Sam Altman dives headfirst into the swirling ethics, anxieties, and absurdities of AI.
At its center is Sam Altman, the influential CEO of OpenAI, whose voice, likeness, and persona become the subject of an extraordinary experiment when Lough, unable to secure an interview, enlists the creation of a deepfake version of Altman, nicknamed “Sam Bot.”
Directed by Adam Bhala Lough, Deepfaking Sam Altman opens in US theaters beginning January 16, 2026 in New York, followed by showings in Los Angeles starting January 30, 2026, before expanding to additional cities.
Deepfaking Sam Altman follows filmmaker Adam Bhala Lough as he embarks on a quest to understand the people and technologies driving the current AI boom. When repeated attempts to interview OpenAI CEO Sam Altman go unanswered, Lough takes an unconventional turn: he travels to India to build a deepfake version of Altman — Sam Bot — trained on Altman’s public persona. What begins as a creative solution evolves into a deeper exploration of identity, connection, and the ways artificial intelligence may shape human relationships and artistic expression. Together with Sam Bot, Lough grapples with what it means to be alive and creative in a world where machine and human blur.
Explaining the original concept for the film, director Adam Bhala Lough said, “Initially, it was going to be a basic biographical documentary on Sam Altman. We figured we would get his interview without any problem, because of the connections that we had to him. I even had his personal cell phone number. All of that changed very, quickly over the course of making it. We were documenting the changes in real time. It’s very much revealing the process and showing the messiness and all the mistakes, exposing myself and my failures in obviously a lighthearted way.”
Watch the official trailer for Deepfaking Sam Altman above.
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