Avatar: Fire and Ash filmmaker James Cameron hasn't been shy about his stance on the idea of AI, drawing a line between generative AI, and the larger concept of AI that he's called an "existential threat." Despite his relatively neutral stance toward the idea of using AI in film, he's promising fans that there's no use of the technology in the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, nor will there be in any Avatar movies.
"I'm not negative about generative AI. I just wanted to point out we don't use it on the Avatar films," Cameron tells ComicBook. "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."
It's no wonder Cameron is worried about the larger threat of AI - that's the central conflict of his beloved Terminator franchise, in which a megalomaniacal AI known as Skynet takes over the Earth through the use of nuclear weapons and the eponymous Terminator android assassins.
Now, with AI becoming more and more controversial everyday, he feels like people in the tech industry are finally heeding the parable of his films, though they're still "racing straight at it with billions and billions being thrown at it."
"They call it the 'Skynet Problem,' and it's being discussed," he explains. "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…so whose morality, whose sense of what's best for us, is going to prevail? We're not going to figure this out in time."
It's hard not to agree with Cameron's larger point here - and I'm guessing we shouldn't expect any time-traveling saviors to come back to save us from whatever fate lies ahead. Whatever effect generative AI has on filmmaking and on human creativity in general, it's far from the only concern surrounding the larger technology it's based on.
Avatar: Fire and Ash hits theaters on December 19. In the meantime, check out our guide to the rest of the best upcoming movies on the way in 2025 and beyond.
