“I Warned You Guys in 1984, and You Didn't Listen.” James Cameron Spoke About Dangers of AI and Stated That a Future from The Terminator Is Possible
James Cameron has spoken out on the subject of artificial intelligence, warning of its dangers. He referred to his movie from 40 years ago.
James Cameron knows something about the dangers of artificial intelligence, after all, 40 years ago he made a film on the subject. We are talking, of course, about 1984's The Terminator, which showed that the development of AI can be dangerous for humans. The movie featured a murderous cyborg and an artificial intelligence called Skynet.
And some time agoe, in an interview for CTV News, he once again spoke on the subject, arguing that he had warned everyone about AI, but no one wanted to listen to him.
I warned you guys in 1984, and you didn't listen.
James Cameron doesn’t take this topic lightly, arguing that he "absolutely shares their concern," referring to those calling for regulation of the rapidly developing AI. In his view, it is necessary to look at who is involved in development of artificial intelligence and for what purposes. Incidentally, he suggested that the future that Skynet led to in The Terminator is possible.
I think the weaponization of AI is the biggest danger. I think that we will get into the equivalent of a nuclear arms race with AI, and if we don't build it, the other guys are for sure going to build it, and so then it'll escalate. You could imagine an AI in a combat theatre, the whole thing just being fought by the computers at a speed humans can no longer intercede, and you have no ability to deescalate.
These are AI issues in relation to politics, and what does Cameron think about the use of artificial intelligence in cinema, and is it a real threat to filmmakers? This was a hot topic last year – screenwriters demanded regulation of the extent to which studios can use AI. They wanted their works and themselves to be protected.
According to Cameron, AI will not succeed in replacing screenwriters, as he doesn’t believe it can write good stories.
I just don't personally believe that a disembodied mind that's just regurgitating what other embodied minds have said — about the life that they've had, about love, about lying, about fear, about mortality — and just put it all together into a word salad and then regurgitate it … I don't believe that have something that's going to move an audience. Let's wait 20 years, and if an AI wins an Oscar for Best Screenplay, I think we've got to take them seriously.
In the future, we will see how much James Cameron, who has been warning about AI for 40 years and advocating for regulating it so that it doesn’t get out of hand, was right.
