James Cameron calls AI-generated films dangerous ahead of Avatar Fire and Ash release: ‘Don’t want to see those movie'

RRR director SS Rajamouli virtually sat down with filmmaker James Cameron for the promotions of his upcoming film, Avatar: Fire and Ash. Ahead of its release, Rajamouli asked Cameron about his thoughts on Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated films.

SS Rajamouli and James Cameron on AI-generated films

Responding to it, the Avatar filmmaker simply called AI-generated films dangerous.

He explained how his team completed the film without relying on AI.

He said, “We have never used AI on the Avatar film. Our process is very linear. It starts with writing, and it goes through acting. We take those captured performances, and then we build on them. We don't change the performances at all. We just built the world around it, the lighting and cinematography as a kind of a downstream process.”

“AI is very dangerous”

Calling it a strange but effective process, James Cameron added, “I believe this generative AI is very dangerous if it eliminates the sacred process of working through the actors to tell a story, cause I find that to be a feedback process, which is very positive for me and the film.”

He urged upcoming filmmakers not to rely on AI for filmmaking.

"I would say to young filmmakers who are drawn to these inexpensive tools that allow them to get their thoughts and imagination into an image very quickly, I would say stop, spend time with actors. Some of them don't even think about acting.

“Some of the young filmmakers coming up, they don't even know any actors. They think they can bypass that step, that is very dangerous. I don't want to see those movies,” he added.

Limits of AI in films

Cameron went on to explain the limits of AI in the field.

“AI is trained on everything that has been done, it cannot be trained on anything that hasn't been done. If you take everything that's ever been done and you put it in a blender and you turn it into a sludge. You are always going to get the average," he added.

“We have accepted a lot of mediocrity for our entertainment, but that's not what we go to the movie theatres for. I don't think it can ever create what you see.”

The Titanic director shared that he believes filmmakers can instead plug in AI tools to their existing VXF to reduce rising expenses.

Avatar: Fire and Ash release date in India

James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash is nearing its big release after a gap of 4 years since Avatar (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). The film premiered at the Dolby Theatre on December 1.

The film will be released globally and in India on December 19.

Avatar: Fire and Ash advance booking

According to a report by Sacnilk, Avatar: Fire & Ash is likely to witness a milder opening than its sequel, Avatar: Way of Water. Avatar: Way of Water earned nearly 50 crores gross in 2022 on its opening day, becoming the second biggest opener for a Hollywood film in India.

As the film’s pre-sales are tracking at around 60% of The Way of Water for the opening day, Fire & Ash is predicted to open between ₹30–35 crore gross in India.