When it comes to rogue artificial intelligence (AI) you’d expect filmmaker James Cameron to know a thing or two about the subject. Way before Avatar or Titanic, the director was famous for The Terminator franchise. The original film was released in 1984, and in a recent interview discussing the rise of AI he discusses that ‘weaponization’ poses a big danger.
Talking to the Canadian news network CTV, Cameron said: “I think the weaponization of AI is the biggest danger.” He went on to explain: “I think that we will get into the equivalent of a nuclear arms race with AI, and if we don’t build it, the other guys are for sure going to build it, and so then it’ll escalate.”
Terminator Director on AI
The Terminator franchise is built around the premise that mankind builds an AI computer called Skynet. This becomes sentient and views mankind as its greatest threat. In the war that follows, humanity is all but wiped out. Until John Conner, the leader of the resistance fights back. So Skynet decides to send a terminator back in time to kill Conner’s mother, taking him out of the equation.
Time travel is far-fetched, but the rise in modern AI has led to serious questions about its use and evolution. As Cameron quipped during the interview: “I warned you guys in 1984, and you didn’t listen.”
Whether it’s OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Midjourney’s AI image generator or Adobe’s new Generative AI, the technology is gaining pace rapidly. And it’s this technological race as AI companies try to outdo one another that Cameron is hesitant about.
In one example he says: “You could imagine an AI in a combat theatre, the whole thing just being fought by the computers at a speed humans can no longer intercede, and you have no ability to deescalate.”
While you contemplate all of that why not lighten the mood by playing Terminator: Resistance instead? Do you agree with the Terminator director on AI, should we be worried? Let us know your thoughts in the comment below.
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