James Cameron is finally sharing his thoughts on the controversial debate over artificial intelligence, which has become a pressing topic in recent months thanks to the growing use of machine-learning writing tools like ChatGPT. While the topic has been mostly centered around AI replacing Hollywood writers and actors, the Terminator director has more apocalyptic concerns.
“I warned you guys in 1984, and you didn’t listen,” Cameron told CTV News about his sci-fi epic, which revolved around a nuclear holocaust sparked by a war between humans and killer, sentient machines that also happen to look like Austrian bodybuilders.
According to Cameron, the major concern is whether AI is being used for “greed” or “paranoia,” the latter of which could be disastrous:
“I think the weaponization of AI is the biggest danger,” he said. “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.”
As for the threat to writers, Cameron doesn’t believe “a disembodied mind that’s just regurgitating what other embodied minds have said” can create “something that’s going to move an audience.” At least not for a while.
“Let’s wait 20 years, and if an AI wins an Oscar for Best Screenplay, I think we’ve got to take them seriously,” he quipped.
(Via CTV News)
