LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Iconic director James Cameron shared his opinion on the ongoing debate about artificial intelligence while remembering a famous project he made nearly four decades ago which he considers was a warning for what's taking place today. In an interview with CTV News, the 68-year-old Academy Award winner reflected his 1984 film 'The Terminator' which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as a cyborg assassin.
This comes after the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), an American labor union representing approximately 160,000 media professionals worldwide, recently announced a strike against Hollywood studios.
What did James Cameron say about AI?
“I warned you guys in 1984 and you didn't listen,” Cameron told the outlet. Saying he "absolutely share(s) the concern" about AI potentially going too far, Cameron told CTV news, "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," said the 'Avatar' and 'Titanic' director. "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," he further said.
What did SAG-AFTRA's national executive director say?
SAG-AFTRA's national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, in a press conference announcing the union's intention to strike against the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers), said, "This 'groundbreaking' AI proposal that they gave us yesterday, they proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get one day’s pay, and their companies should own that scan, their image, their likeness and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity on any project they want, with no consent and no compensation."
The AMPTP said in a statement ahead of the union's decision that their offer to SAG-AFTRA included "a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors' digital likenesses." The AMPTP reiterated after the SAG-AFTRA press conference by stating that the union's claim is false, Reuters reported. "[Studios] said the current proposal would restrict the use of the digital replica to the motion picture for which the background actor is employed. Any other use would require that actor’s consent and bargaining for the use, subject to a minimum payment."
What did Schwarzenegger say about AI?
Schwarzenegger, 75, recently praised Cameron for predicting the future of artificial intelligence in 'The Terminator' films that he said has now "become a reality." “Today, everyone is frightened of it, of where this is gonna go," the actor said of current concerns around AI, during 'An Evening with Arnold Schwarzenegger' in Los Angeles last month. "And in this movie, in 'The Terminator,' we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over."
