‘I warned you in 1984 and you didn’t listen’: Terminator director warns against AI, issue at center of Hollywood strike

A historic double strike by screenwriters from the WGA and actors and actresses from SAG-AFTRA against the studios It broke out again.

The two unions are campaigning for a reevaluation of working rights and conditions, increased fixed and residual wages, especially for streaming content, and less complicated casting processes.

But there’s another reason people in the industry have a huge reaction: artificial intelligence. The two associations demonstrate a framework for the use of artificial intelligence, by ethically regulating the use of performers’ faces, with their consent and guaranteeing appropriate remuneration when technological performances are carried out, but also against the generation of scripts by computers. .

Tom Cruise made it one of his concerns when he tried to negotiate with the studios and AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) before the strike last month. The star of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part 1 – in which the threat of AI is at the heart of the film – did take part in a negotiation session with representatives from both sides to try to find a solution, to no avail. .

James Cameron vs. Artificial Intelligence

Today, another major film name spoke about artificial intelligence: James Cameron. The director of Avatar has revealed that he will never use this tool to write a screenplay. in the interview CTV NewsHe expressed his doubts about the AI’s ability to write “good news” :

“I personally don’t believe in a disembodied soul who simply repeats what other incarnate souls have said – about their lives, loves, lies, fears, mortality – and who simply puts it together. Word salad and then regurgitating it can create a story that can move an audience. One needs to write a good screenplay. I don’t know anyone who would consider using AI to write a screenplay.”

Even if he is quite optimistic about the inability of AI to write, he does not take the matter seriously. “Let’s wait 20 years and if AI wins the Oscar for best screenplay, I think we should take it seriously.”he added.

But the director’s concern is elsewhere: “I think the weaponization of artificial intelligence is the biggest threat. I think we’re going to be in what could be the equivalent of a nuclear arms race, and if we don’t work on it, someone else will, and it’s going to get worse.”

James Cameron believes that AI will be able to fight other computers so quickly that the human species will not be able to intervene. “I warned you in 1984 and you didn’t listen”The director even “joked”.

He is referring here to his film Terminator, which tells the story of a war against the remnants of humanity, destroyed by an atomic holocaust, the machines of Skynet, a computer system controlled by artificial intelligence in the year 2029.

Its lead actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, recently spoke peopleAt an event held in Los Angeles on this topic, recalling James Cameron’s film:

“Everybody’s afraid of that today, everybody’s afraid of where it’s going to take us. And in Terminator, we’re talking about machines being self-aware and taking over… Now, decades later, it’s become a reality. So it’s happening. It’s no longer a fantasy or a futuristic idea. It’s happening today. This is an extraordinary piece of writing by James Cameron.”

Following James Cameron’s statements, another director expressed concern about artificial intelligence. Guillermo del Toro quoted his colleague and friend in an interview with this message on Twitter: “Intestinal AI that is unregulated, untested, untamed, and unappreciated simply because of greed may be the final blow before we become Mata.”

While it’s impossible to say how long the double strike by writers and actors will last, it’s certain that artificial intelligence will remain a major topic of discussion when new negotiations between the studios and the two unions take place.