Because of his foresight in the Terminator movies, James Cameron keeps getting dragged into AI talk. And of course the man who built Skynet on screen long before tech bros tried it in real life has a lot to say on the subject. While promoting Avatar: Fire and Ash, ComicBook asked him about artificial intelligence, and he didn’t sugarcoat a thing. He has a lot of big opinions.
For starters, he made it clear that the new film didn’t touch generative AI. Not a single frame. And he seemed almost proud of that. Cameron said, “I just wanted to point out we don’t use it on the Avatar films. We honor and celebrate actors. We don’t replace actors.”
But before anyone crowns him the patron saint of traditional filmmaking techniques, Cameron did make it very clear that he’s not against AI as a creative tool. For now, he just draws a line between what he calls “Big AI” and generative software that helps artists.
The Terminator director described the large-scale risk in quintessential Cameron fashion. “They call it the ‘Skynet Problem,’ and it’s being discussed. But obviously, what they’re talking about is alignment.”
“They have to be trained, they have to be taught, they have to be constrained in a way that they only work toward human good. The problem is, who makes that decision? Who decides what’s good for us? We can’t agree amongst ourselves on a damn thing,” Cameron said as a warning.
To him, the real obstacle isn’t the tech. It’s us. People on social media can’t even get through a day without losing their minds about something trivial. Forget reaching global consensus on AI ethics; we can’t even settle on who should be DC’s Superman without rage.
And misinformation only makes the whole thing messier. Cameron said, “We’re probably almost in a consensus-free world right now. And then you start adding disinformation and intentional misinformation. On top of that, it’s like, we’re not going to figure this out in time. And they’re racing straight at it with billions and billions being thrown at it.”
Still, he doesn’t sound like a man doomscrolling in a bunker. He believes Hollywood will handle generative tools responsibly. He trusts artists to protect their craft. He just wants the species to survive long enough to keep making movies.
Avatar: Fire and Ash arrives in theaters on December 19, completely AI-free. It’s good to know that it uses good ol’ CGI.
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