James Cameron warns of AI apocalypse coming to Hollywood

James Cameron has warned that tackling generative AI is the biggest challenge the movie industry is facing today.

In an interview with Screendaily while working on the post-production on the forthcoming Avatar movie in New Zealand, the 70-year-old Canadian filmmaker admitted “we haven't learnt how to control" generative AI in movies yet, calling the current situation in Hollywood "the Wild West".

Cameron went on to further articulate his thoughts on the use of AI in the entertainment world and feared its high potential of replacing human artists in the future.

He said, "I can't think of anything coming up that is bigger and more important to us right now than confronting this generative AI issue.”

"It is critical that we master it and control it so that it remains an artistic tool and it doesn't replace artists," the Titanic director emphasised.

"The idea that this technology could potentially replace actors and the unique lens that every artist brings is horrifying… The new tools have the possibility of doing great harm because they can replace an actor or they can synthesize an actor who is dead,” Cameron noted.

In addition, he also cautioned that “there are some very dangerous things ahead of us right now,” confessing that he has "never been afraid of new technology."

"I want to learn it, I want to master it for myself, then use my own best judgment about how I apply it to my personal art. It takes me four years to make an Avatar movie, so I think about how great it would be if I could do it in three years or two years," The Terminator creator shared.

Also, "Movies are very, very expensive now," and he thinks cinema is slowly losing its importance.

The fact “is horrifying as well after spending 42 years making movies to be seen in movie theatres. We're not seeing as many movies getting greenlit and getting made of the type that I love – the fantasy, the phantasmagorical, science fiction, big, visually opulent films,” James Cameron stated.