James Cameron: We as artists have to ‘master’ generative AI

James Cameron has never hesitated to give good quotes on anything, so naturally, he has reflections on the generative AI.

The 70-year director is the box office goat of all time, with an impressive chain of tubes such as Titanic and the Avatar series. He recently took some different sites to discuss the generative AI, which has an impact on the making of films in the same way as he has an impact on almost everything else.

In a conversation with Screen Daily, an international publication of the film industry, Cameron said that artists will have to “master” a generative AI so that they can exploit its potential according to their own conditions.

“I cannot think of anything to come who is bigger and more important for us at the moment than to face this problem generating AI,” Cameron told Screen Daily. “It is essential that we master it and control it so that it remains an artistic tool and that it does not replace the artists.”

Cameron is known to be as verbose as they are obstinate, and it has always been at the cutting edge of visual effects technology. In general, the generating AI was extremely controversial in Hollywood, even the smallest puff of the generative leader leading to a fierce reaction. However, in recent conversations, Cameron has expressed a more measured point of view.

“There are very dangerous things in front of us right now, but I have never been afraid of new technologies,” said the director to detect daily. “I want to learn it, I want to master it for myself, then use my best judgment on how I apply it to my personal art.”

Cameron continued to say Screen daily that we are in a kind of “Wild West” with AI at the moment. “We, as artists in the films, on television, must establish the rules for this. At the moment, there are no rules. This is the West West.”

And in an appearance on the Podcast Boz to the Future, Cameron said that the generator could be critical for filmmakers trying to considerably reduce the costs of making important and heavy films, citing Dune For example. However, he stressed that this does not mean removing the work of humans.

“Now, it is not a question of dismissing half of the staff and the effects company,” said the director, according to Variety. “It is a question of doubling their speed of completion on a given shot, so your cadence is faster and your flow cycle is faster, and the artists move and do other nice things, then other nice things, right? This is my kind of vision for that.”

If you have not followed Cameron throughout his cinema career, this is entirely in line with his approach in recent decades. He has always pleaded for new technologies like CGI (pioneer in Terminator 2) and performance capture and 3D cinema, like the genre seen in Avatar. Where it becomes difficult is that CGI and the capture of performance always require a human touch to function properly, while some AI generative defenders believe that technology can be used to write scenarios or make films without human entry at all.

Currently, the use of AI in Hollywood has become a battlefield for unions like Sag-Aftra merchant with major studios.