James Cameron Confirms No AI Used in ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash,’ But He Isn’t Against It: “I’m Not Negative About Generative AI”

James Cameron spoke to ComicBook about his upcoming film Avatar: Fire and Ash and shared his thoughts on artificial intelligence, making it clear that no generative AI was used in the production. The filmmaker also shared his perspective on AI in general, particularly the risks of “Big AI.”

Cameron said that discussions about AI, sometimes called the “Skynet Problem,” are underway. “They call it the ‘Skynet Problem,’ and it’s being discussed. But obviously, what they’re talking about is alignment. If you’re hip to general intelligence issues and AI overall, alignment is a big issue. And they have to be trained, they have to be taught, they have to be constrained in a way that they only work toward human good. The problem is, who makes that decision? Who decides what’s good for us? We can’t agree amongst ourselves on a damn thing,” he explained.

He pointed out that disagreements over ethics and morality between religions and governments make it hard to decide what is “best” for humanity.

Cameron added that misinformation and disinformation make the situation even more complicated. “You can’t have alignment unless we as humans have consensus, and we have no consensus. We’re probably almost in a consensus-free world right now. And then you start adding disinformation and intentional misinformation. On top of that, it’s like, we’re not going to figure this out in time. And they’re racing straight at it with billions and billions being thrown at it,” he said.

However, Cameron made a distinction between large-scale artificial intelligence and generative AI. He confirmed that generative AI was not used in Avatar: Fire and Ash and emphasized the importance of honoring actors.

“I’m not negative about generative AI. I just wanted to point out we don’t use it on the Avatar films. We honor and celebrate actors. We don’t replace actors. That’s going to find its level. I think Hollywood will be self-policing on that. We’ll find our way through that. But we can only find our way through it as artists if we exist. So it’s the existential threat from big AI that worries me more than all that stuff,” Cameron said.

Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is free of generative AI, is set to hit theaters on December 19.

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