Three-time Oscar winner James Cameron has been branded a ‘hypocrite’ over his U-turn on the use of AI after his Terminator movies predicted machine-led warfare.

The iconic director, 70, who has previously slammed AI as a potential danger to society, has taken a more positive approach to the use of the technology in recent months, even joining the board of Stability AI in a much-criticized move.

In a candid interview with THR, Avatar creator Cameron – whose 2022 CGI-led film Avatar: The Way of Water cost $400millon to make – admitted he is now looking into how use of AI could cut the cost of a blockbuster in half.

He has previously revealed upcoming blockbuster Avatar: Fire and Ash will begin with a тιтle card reading: ‘No generative AI was used in the making of this film.’ 

Discussing his move to Stability AI – which created the Stable Diffusion image model – he said: ‘In the old days, I would have founded a company to figure it out. I’ve learned maybe that’s not the best way to do it. So I thought, all right, I’ll join the board of a good, compeтιтive company that’s got a good track record. My goal was not necessarily make a s**t pile of money. 

‘The goal was to understand the space, to understand what’s on the minds of the developers. What are they targeting? What’s their development cycle? How much resources you have to throw at it to create a new model that does a purpose built thing, and my goal was to try to integrate it into a VFX workflow.

Three-time Oscar winner James Cameron has been branded a ‘hypocrite’ over his U-turn on the use of AI after his Terminator movies predicted machine-led warfare – pictured 2023

The iconic director, 70, who has previously slammed AI as a potential danger to society, has taken a more positive approach to the use of the technology – despite previously using his hit Terminator franchise as a ‘warning’ over AI 

‘And it’s not just hypothetical, if we want to continue to see the kinds of movies that I’ve always loved and that I like to make and that I will go to see — Call it Dune, Dune Two something like that, or one of my films, or big effects-heavy, CG-heavy films — we’ve got to figure out how to cut the cost of that in half. 

‘Now that’s not about laying off half the staff and at the effects company. That’s about doubling their speed to completion on a given sH๏τ, so your cadence is faster and your throughput cycle is faster, and artists get to move on and do other cool things and then other cool things, right? That’s my sort of vision for that.’

тιтanic director Cameron envisions a future where AI products can help filmmakers ‘create their visions more fully’ – arguing that huge firms like Meta and OpenAI are not focused on making movies, which he called a ‘tiny use case.’

These comments are in stark contrast to Cameron’s scathing 2023 remarks saying: ‘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,’ he continued.

Referencing his film, The Terminator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, the screenwriter said: ‘I warned you guys in 1984… and you didn’t listen.’

The Terminator followed a human soldier, sent from 2029, to ‘1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity’s future salvation,’ according to IMBD . 

Fans quickly reacted on social media blasting ‘hypocrite’ Cameron for his about face, with one writing: ‘You literally wrote and directed 2 movies showing the consequences of humanity putting their faith in AI you people are the absolute worst.’

‘Why is James Cameron defending this awful AI upscaling for his films? I thought only people in the comments of youtube shorts thought this kind of upscaling looks good.’

In a candid interview with THR , Avatar creator Cameron – whose CGI led 2022 film Avatar: The Way of Water cost $400millon to make – admitted he is now looking into how use of AI could cut the cost of a blockbuster in half

Cameron said in 2023: ‘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’ – Robert Patrick seen as the T1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

A third wrote: ‘It’s so over.’

This comes over a year since Cameron gave a scathing take on  AI chatbots , like ChatGPT, helping people write emails, resumes, and, even, works of fiction.

Read More Josh Brolin reveals James Cameron’s shock reaction to him turning down Avatar 2

The filmmaker, best known for writing and directing тιтanic in 1997, said he doesn’t ‘know anyone that’s even thinking about having AI write a screenplay.’

‘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…[is] ever going to have something that’s going to move an audience,’ he told CTV News .

The father-of-four continued: ‘You have to be human to write that.’

‘Let’s wait 20 years, and if an AI wins an Oscar for best screenplay, I think we’ve got to take them seriously,’ the Ontario native quipped.

After stating he was not concerned about AI taking over his job, Cameron expressed concern that the it will lead to a nuclear holocaust.

Referencing his film, The Terminator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (seen above in character), the screenwriter said: ‘I warned you guys in 1984… and you didn’t listen’

In a similar sentiment about AI, Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger warned the public that The Terminator has ‘become a reality.’

‘Today, everyone is frightened of it, of where this is gonna go,’ the actor, 75, said. ‘And in this movie, in Terminator, we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over. Now, over the course of decades, it has become a reality.’

‘Now over the course of decades, it has become a reality. So it’s not any more fantasy or kind of futuristic. It is here today. And so this is the extraordinary writing of Jim Cameron,’ he added.