Following his entry into Stability AI's Board of Directors in 2024, James Cameron has opened up to the use of AI in filmmaking. In a recent interview, Cameron explained that his goal is to integrate AI into visual effects (VFX) workflows to reduce costs without laying off staff. His idea was to use the technology to "cut the cost of VFX in half."
"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," he said on the Boz to the Future podcast hosted by Andrew Bosworth, the CTO of the technology giant Meta, as quoted by Deadline.
However, he has discouraged the use of prompts that mimic the styles of artists. "I think we should discourage the text prompt that says, ‘in the style of James Cameron,’ or ‘in the style of Zack Snyder." He emphasised that these copies make him a "little bit queasy." His response was in the wake of users flooding the internet with Studio Ghibli-style images of their personal photos and iconic memes and moments from history and politics.
While Cameron denounced the use of AI in filmmaking, underlining its dangers and questioning its ability to write quality scripts in 2023, he has expressed openness recently for using it. He earlier said that he doesn't 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 responded with skepticism, 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."
Cameron understands that to create content replicative of talents is interesting and also is reminiscent of what he does himself. "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," Cameron noted and 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."
On the workfront, Cameron is currently working on his third Avatar film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is slated to hit theatres in December.
