James Cameron says AI can’t ‘create something new’

James Cameron has finally broken silence when it comes to his feelings about AI in Hollywood.

Ahead of the release of Avatar 3: Fire and Ash, the director told CBS Sunday Morning that the idea of AI-generated actors is “horrifying” and goes against everything he values in filmmaking.

During the conversation, the director shared his thoughts about generative AI.

“They can make up a character. They can make up an actor. They can make up a performance from scratch with a text prompt,” he said, adding, “It’s like, no. That’s horrifying to me. That’s the opposite. That’s exactly what we’re not doing.”

He made it clear he has no interest in replacing human performers. “I don’t want a computer doing what I pride myself on being able to do with actors. I don’t want to replace actors, I love working with actors.”

Cameron, who also serves as a director at UK-based Stability AI, said AI’s creative abilities are far more limited than people think.

“What generative AI can’t do is create something new that’s never been seen,” he explained.

Because models are trained only on existing human work, he believes the results end up being “an average” of everything that came before.