James Cameron is one of the most celebrated directors in Hollywood, and his way of thinking and making a movie can never be replaced by AI. Why? Because the filmmaker doesn’t believe in text prompts. Even though he appreciated the new technology and technicalities of AI, he couldn’t wrap his head around how it could mimic great talents with just a few prompts.
In a recent conversation, Cameron opened up about it and even shared his experience after joining the board of AI firm, Stability AI, last year. Scroll ahead.
The director who is known for his films like Avatar, Titanic, and Terminator, James Cameron, recently appeared on the latest episode of Boz to the Future, a podcast (Via Meta) hosted by Andrew Bosworth. Andrew is a huge name in the technology field as he is the CTO of the giant META. In the episode, Cameron said, “I think we should discourage the text prompt that says, ‘in the style of James Cameron,’ or ‘in the style of Zack Snyder.‘” He doesn’t want AI to mimic the style of an artist that makes him “queasy,” even though he finds it interesting.
In the same conversation, Cameron further accepted that he wants to incorporate AI into VFX so that he can cut down costs without laying off his staff. He said, “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 – Dune, Dune: Part Two, 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.”
James Cameron continued to explain that he understands the fact about replicating a talent as he does it himself and said, “I aspire to be in the style of Ridley Scott, in the style of Stanley Kubrick. That’s my text prompt that runs in my head as a filmmaker. He added, “In the style of George Miller: wide lens, low, hauling ass, coming up into a tight close up. Yeah, I want to do that. I know my influences. Everybody knows their influences.” However, he doesn’t like the idea of utilizing AI in filmmaking while sharing his concerns about it.
The Avatar filmmaker previously said “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 questioned its seriousness by saying, “Let’s wait 20 years, and if an AI wins an Oscar for best screenplay, I think we’ve got to take them seriously.”
When James was asked about joining an AI company, the acclaimed director shared that in the old days, he would have thought of opening such a company. But in recent times, he thought of being a part of a company that has a good track record. For the unversed, the filmmaker is currently working on Avatar: Fire and Ash. It has been scheduled for a December 2025 release.
