Avatar Creator James Cameron Says Using AI to 'Make Up a Performance From Scratch With a Text Prompt' Is 'Horrifying to Me'

Avatar creator James Cameron has issued beardown words connected the imaginable for full characters to beryllium created with generative AI, saying it’s “horrifying to me.”

Speaking to CBS News, the Avatar: Fire and Ash manager described the process of turning real-life actors into integer characters for the Avatar films, citing show seizure arsenic a important component.

"For years, determination was this consciousness that, 'Oh, they're doing thing unusual with computers and they're replacing actors,' erstwhile successful fact, erstwhile you truly drill down and you spot what we're doing, it's a solemnisation of the actor-director moment," helium said.

"Now, spell to the different extremity of the spectrum, and you've got generative AI, wherever they tin marque up a character," helium continued. "They tin marque up an actor. They tin marque up a show from scratch with a substance prompt. It's like, no. That's horrifying to me. That's the opposite. That's precisely what we're not doing."

Cameron’s comments travel astatine a peculiarly applicable clip for Hollywood, arsenic filmmakers and studios grapple with the aboriginal of AI performances. Recently an AI-generated “actress” named Tilly Norwood was revealed astatine the Zurich Film Festival. Norwood was created by Eline Van der Velden, the Dutch laminitis of AI institution Particle 6 Productions, and has since sparked the ire of SAG-AFTRA.

Earlier this year, the Terminator and Titanic manager spoke astir the dangers of artificial intelligence, peculiarly arsenic it relates to weapons systems and getting into what helium calls a “nuclear arms race” with AI. And successful an interrogation with IGN, Cameron said helium has nary tendency to region quality beings from the penning and acting processes.

“I don't privation an AI exemplary to constitute my scripts,” Cameron told IGN successful September. “Any bully screenwriter has a peculiar lens connected the world, a unsocial lived experience, and that's what they're determination to express. That's what directors do. That's what actors do.

“I deliberation gen AI does connection a batch of potentialities and a batch of threats to our originative intent successful life. I deliberation a batch of things are going to alteration implicit the adjacent fewer years. I don't deliberation what's going to yet alteration for maine is storytelling with actors.”

“We’ve managed to (make) these gorgeous Avatar movies with zero gen AI,” Cameron added. “(But) Avatar films are rather expensive. If we could usage generative AI to bring costs down successful VFX, past much films similar Avatar (could beryllium made). More fantastic films, subject fabrication films, films that usage a batch of VFX, possibly adjacent humanities dramas that request VFX to make a antithetic satellite than the 1 we unrecorded successful close now.

“Right present everybody's benignant of terrified to greenlight large costly films, and a large portion of that disbursal is ocular effects. Is that a imaginable solution? I'm going to research that. But what I volition ne'er bash is regenerate what I deliberation of arsenic the Sacred Creative Act, which is writing, creating characters conceptually, moving with actors to bring those characters to life, past moving with artists to enactment them successful a world. For me, that indispensable ne'er change.”

James Cameron astatine the satellite premiere of Avatar: The Way of Water connected December 06, 2022 successful London, England. Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Disney.

Cameron’s thoughts connected the outgo of making Avatar movies flared up again past week, erstwhile helium said that if Avatar: Fire and Ash doesn’t marque capable wealth to warrant Avatar 4 and 5, he’s acceptable to locomotion distant from the franchise.

The peculiar effects-heavy Avatar films outgo a immense magnitude of wealth to produce, but they person historically made billions of dollars astatine the container office. Avatar: Fire and Ash, owed retired successful December, is expected to travel suit — and the unit is connected it to present for Disney truthful manager James Cameron tin recognize his imaginativeness and merchandise Avatar 4 and 5 implicit the adjacent six years.

Avatar 4 is down for merchandise connected December 21, 2029, with Avatar 5 owed retired December 19, 2031. Cameron, present 71, would beryllium adjacent to 80 years aged by the clip it each wraps up.

Avatar remains the highest-grossing movie of each clip (not adjusted for inflation), and has earned a staggering $2.9 cardinal crossed respective theatrical runs. (Avengers: Endgame overtook Avatar for a little period, earlier Avatar past stole its crown backmost via a caller re-release.) 2022 sequel Avatar: The Way of Water earned $2.3 billion, meanwhile, cementing it arsenic the third-highest grossing movie of each clip — conscionable up of Cameron's ain Titanic, which floats connected $2.2 billion.

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Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].