Terminator Creator James Cameron Reveals the Real Problem With AI, And Why It Scares Him

James Cameron has been at the forefront of major technological innovations in feature films for decades. The director’s career has been largely defined by his ideas leading to leaps that have influenced the movie business in ways that are now second nature to its existence. Some great examples are The Abyss, which pushed computer-generated visual effects to the front of the screen with its Pseudopod, and which paved the way for Terminator 2: Judgement Day‘s liquid antagonist, the T-1000. Even the past sixteen years of Cameron’s career have fit the bill here as well as the Avatar movies have continued to refine and push techniques into new areas.

Despite his extensive work in helping pioneer major technological advances, plus the dire warning he gave the world with The Terminator and T2, advancements in artificial intelligence appear to be moving along at a breakneck pace that no one can keep up with. Considering the new details that emerge almost daily about AI advancements, it feels like the people calling the shots may not have been paying that close attention to Cameron’s movies. Now, the filmmaker has revealed the exact thing that scares him most about AI, and it’s not at all how it might replace Hollywood innovation.

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Speaking with ComicBook about his new film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, we had to bring up the debates surrounding AI and how, after making the highly influential sci-fi franchise, The Terminator, no one making decisions about that technology appears to be listening to him. His reply opened up yet another thing to worry about with AI.

“I think they are now (listening to him),” Cameron revealed. “They call it the ‘Skynet Problem,’ and it’s being discussed. But obviously, what they’re talking about is alignment. If you’re hip to general intelligence issues and AI overall, alignment is a big issue. And 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. All the religions are at odds over ethics and morality and so on. All the governments have different (ideas), so whose morality, whose sense of what’s best for us, is going to prevail?”

He continued, “You can’t have alignment unless we as humans have consensus, and we have no consensus. 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.”

Cameron went on to clarify that his feelings about larger artificial intelligence have more to do with “Big AI” and not “little AI” as he puts it, referring to generative artificial intelligence. That said, he did make sure to note ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash for audiences that no generative AI is utilized in the film. The filmmaker went on to reveal that he believes Hollywood will navigate its way through the potentials and uses of generative AI but they’ll only be able to manage that by surviving the issues of “Big AI.”

“I’m not negative about generative AI,” 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. That’s going to find its level. I think Hollywood will be self-policing on that. We’ll find our way through that. But we can only find our way through it as artists if we exist. So it’s the existential threat from big AI that worries me more than all that stuff.”

Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is AI free, arrives in theaters on December 19.

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