James Cameron is joining the board of an AI firm

In some news that is happening whether we like it or not, artificial intelligence firm Stability AI just revealed that famed director James Cameron is joining its board of directors. The news comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which explains that the company is specifically known for developing the Stable Diffusion text-to-image generative AI model, a tool that has the potential to massively impact the entire industry.

As if there isn’t enough to discuss with just Cameron’s presence on the board, the Avatar director will also be joined by Sean Parker—a.k.a. the real-life reason we don’t call it “The Facebook.” “Having an artist of [Cameron’s] caliber with a seat at the table marks the start of a new chapter for Stability AI,” Parker said in a statement. “We’re incredibly excited by the limitless potential for creative collaboration between generative media platforms and the artistic community.”

While Cameron, an undeniable pioneer in computer-generated filmmaking, did claim in his own statement that “the intersection of generative AI and CGI image creation is the next wave” and “the convergence of these two totally different engines of creation will unlock new ways for artists to tell stories,” he might not have gone full Skynet just yet. Last year, the Terminator director spoke to CTV News about the danger (and perhaps inevitability) of AI turning into “the equivalent of a nuclear arms race” where “if we don’t build it, the other guys are for sure going to build it, and so then it’ll escalate.” In the same interview, he hypothesized that “you could imagine an AI in a combat theater, the whole thing just being fought by the computers at a speed humans can no longer intercede, and you have no ability to de-escalate.” 

While the impact of AI on his own industry is obviously a lower stakes issue than the slippery slope to nuclear winter, a similar thesis applies. As others in Hollywood have been saying for months, AI clearly isn’t going anywhere soon, if ever. It does make sense for Cameron to want some actual influence over the technology he claims will “shape the future of all visual media.”

Let’s put it another way. Last week, Cameron told Business Insider, “Let me give you an example of the last great symbol of unheeded warnings: the Titanic. Steaming full speed into the night thinking, ‘We’ll just turn if we see an iceberg,’ is not a good way to sail a ship.” This was part of a larger conversation about how to channel AI into “productive uses,” a drive that almost certainly wouldn’t have changed for the filmmaker in such a short time. With all of this in mind, it’s hard to fault the filmmaker for trying to ensure that an actual artist is captaining the ship. At the same time, however, it’s just as hard to blame people who would have preferred to see him commit to being the iceberg. We’ll see where the rest of his colleagues fall in the coming months and years.