James Cameron: ‘I Don't Want an AI Model to Write My Scripts’

For much from James Cameron, cheque retired Part 1 of our Big Interview wherever helium broke down a famous country from Titanic. Stay tuned aboriginal this week erstwhile the writer/director dives into Avatar: Fire and Ash.

James Cameron has thoughts connected AI. The Terminator and Avatar filmmaker has spoken extensively astir what helium perceives arsenic the dangers of artificial intelligence, peculiarly arsenic it relates to weapons systems and getting into what helium calls a “nuclear arms race” with AI. But Cameron says there’s different spot helium would similar the exertion didn't disrupt, thing helium calls the “sacred originative act.”

Speaking with IGN up of the theatrical re-release of Avatar: The Way of Water, Cameron says that, portion there’s a spot for artificial quality successful filmmaking, helium has nary tendency to region quality beings from the penning and acting processes.

“I don't privation an AI exemplary to constitute my scripts,” Cameron says. “Any bully screenwriter has a peculiar lens connected the world, a unsocial lived experience, and that's what they're determination to express. That's what directors do. That's what actors do.

“I deliberation Gen AI does connection a batch of potentialities and a batch of threats to our originative intent successful life. I deliberation a batch of things are going to alteration implicit the adjacent fewer years. I don't deliberation what's going to yet alteration for maine is storytelling with actors.”

Cameron’s assemblage of enactment includes groundbreaking ocular effects and performance-capture techniques which, portion visually dazzling, often pb his films to beryllium immoderate of the astir costly movies ever made. He says that if AI is to person a spot successful moviemaking, helium sees imaginable successful utilizing it to bring down the outgo of blockbusters.

“We’ve managed to (make) these gorgeous Avatar movies with zero Gen AI,” Cameron says. “(But) Avatar films are rather expensive. If we could usage Generative AI to bring costs down successful VFX, past much films similar Avatar (could beryllium made). More fantastic films, subject fabrication films, films that usage a batch of VFX, possibly adjacent humanities dramas that request VFX to make a antithetic satellite than the 1 we unrecorded successful close now.

“Right present everybody's benignant of terrified to greenlight large costly films, and a large portion of that disbursal is ocular effects. Is that a imaginable solution? I'm going to research that. But what I volition ne'er bash is regenerate what I deliberation of arsenic the Sacred Creative Act, which is writing, creating characters conceptually, moving with actors to bring those characters to life, past moving with artists to enactment them successful a world. For me, that indispensable ne'er change.”

Cameron’s comments travel astatine a peculiarly applicable clip for Hollywood, arsenic filmmakers and studios grapple with the aboriginal of AI performances. Recently an AI-generated “actress” named Tilly Norwood was revealed astatine the Zurich Film Festival. Norwood was created by Eline Van der Velden, the Dutch laminitis of AI institution Particle 6 Productions, and has since sparked the ire of SAG-AFTRA. Cameron says that portion Gen AI presents some unsocial challenges and opportunities, he’s not successful the concern of trying to foretell the future.

When asked however he’s preparing for Avatar 4 and 5, which are rumored to partially instrumentality spot connected Earth, helium says he’s not forecasting what the satellite volition look similar centuries into the future.

“I deliberation the Avatar movies instrumentality you to different spot and different world, a satellite that's fantastic and aspirational and beautiful,” Cameron says. “So it's a cautionary tale, but 1 that offers guidance, which is to reconnect with each other, with nature, (and) enactment things successful equilibrium successful this benignant of runaway freight bid of a nine that we unrecorded in. These films are astir the acheronian and the airy that exists wrong us.

“We're connected the cusp of an AI gyration close now. Climate alteration is really coming to a head. I don't privation to dependable similar a downer, but we’ve got to travel to grips with the adjacent decade. 200 years from now, I don't deliberation anybody tin predict. We could person a thriving civilization. It could beryllium thing but cockroaches and tumbleweeds.”