While doing press for his upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, filmmaker James Cameron spoke out against generative AI. “They can make up an actor. They can make up a performance from scratch with a text prompt,” the director said on CBS Sunday Morning. “That’s horrifying to me.”
James Cameron says it’s “horrifying” that generative AI can “make up an actor”:
“Now, go to the other end of the spectrum, and you’ve got generative AI, where they can make up a character. They can make up an actor. They can make up a performance from scratch with a text… pic.twitter.com/tExnbniJzo
— Variety (@Variety) November 30, 2025
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Cameron has often used cutting edge technology in making his movies, sometimes developing it when current tech has been unable to meet his needs. But the man who gave audiences a bleak vision of the AI future in The Terminator seems to have drawn his line in the digital sand.
The Tech Tools
Variety notes that Cameron has been using CGI since 1989’s The Abyss, and hasn’t stopped since. While The Terminator and its sequels may have sounded the warning bells about artificial intelligence, the computer animation he used for telling those stories was revolutionary and jaw-dropping.
Still, as he told Sunday Morning, he wasn’t sure the industry would accept what he wanted to do with Avatar in 2005.
A screenshot from Avatar: The Way of Water – YouTube, Avatar
“For years, there was this sense that, ‘Oh, they’re doing something strange with computers and they’re replacing actors,'” he said. But he added that in reality he’s doing the opposite. “It’s a celebration of the actor-director moment,” he said.
There is a distinct difference between the motion capture used by Cameron’s actors and a completely AI generated creation. Last September, comedian and producer Eline Van der Velden introduced AI performer Tilly Norwood at the Zurich Summit. A purely digital creation, Tilly Norwood doesn’t have a human being behind her words and movements. Van der Velden’s statement that Hollywood talent agencies were interested in signing Norwood was upsetting to the industry.
AI actress Tilly Norwood in a sci-fi film – YouTube, Entertainment Tonight
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Actress Emily Blunt was among the first to reject digital performers, telling Variety, “That’s an AI? Good Lord, we’re screwed.” She added, “Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection.”
Now, the directors who work with the talent are making their opinions known.
Directors Condemn AI
While accepting a Vanguard Tribute for Frankenstein at the Gotham Awards Monday night, Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro said, “The artistry of all of them shines on every single frame of this film that was willfully made by humans, for humans.” He closed by saying, “It belongs to all of them, and I would like to extend our gratitude and say, ‘f**k AI.’”
A screenshot from the trailer to Frankenstein on Netflix – YouTube, Netflix
Cameron calling generative AI performers “horrifying” complements del Toro’s defiant stance. When two directors of their stature reject what many feel is the inevitable future, everyone takes notice. Frankenstein and Avatar: Fire and Ash may be bulwarks against the growing tide of “AI slop,” proving the enduring quality of more traditional methods. Or they may represent the pinnacle of the old way of making movies before new technologies take over production. Either way, directors talking about AI drives the conversation.
But the truth is, Cameron may not be anti-generative AI, even if he doesn’t want a Tilly Norwood in his movies.
James Cameron and Stability AI
On September 24, 2024, Stability AI, which describes itself as “a leading generative AI company,” announced James Cameron had joined its board of directors.
In a major coup for the artificial intelligence company, Stability AI says that Avatar, Terminator and Titanic director James Cameron will join its board of directors. https://t.co/WCIubx67BL
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 24, 2024
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At the time, Cameron said, “I was at the forefront of CGI over three decades ago, and I’ve stayed on the cutting edge since. Now, the intersection of generative AI and CGI image creation is the next wave.”
So, clearly, Cameron isn’t cutting himself off from AI completely.
James Cameron in an interview with GQ – YouTube, GQ
The next wave of storytelling will inevitably be driven by generative AI, and the only question is to what degree. If creators like Cameron can thread the needle between the horrifying and the human, new technology may bring us into a new era of storytelling and not Skynet.
Do you agree with James Cameron that generative AI actors are horrifying? Do you care if a movie is mostly CGI or AI? Let us know in the comments!
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People with the most money always seem to speak with the most forked tongue.
Almost like,… the retention of power is the most paramount…..
“They can make up an actor. They can make up a performance from scratch with a text prompt” said Cameron.
The protagonist giant smurfs in Avatar are exactly that. 😃
In his Avatar movies, CGI artists make fake “people” using text prompts (The movie script).
Sure, there are actors using motion capture, but AI tech also uses that exact same technology to map “deep fake” AI images into videos. In any case, I lost all connection with a performance when they make them into giant, blue and brown smurfs, with huge eyes (for cuteness).
That’s funny, but true.
Cameron is two-faced, of course. He is virtue signalling to actors. But his Avatar series has only bad guys as “humans”. And, ironically, the bad guys are relatable for that reason. I always yearn for the bad guys to win. Knowing they’ll get snuffed by the holier-than-though blue orcs with giant eyes, well, that is depressing.
As for AI, well, SAGGTITSRA (or whatever the union is called) went on strike. What more compelling reason can there be, to replace their men with AI?
It warms the cockles of my heart to know Hollywood is hearing the barbarians at the gate. They seem to forget it still takes an artist to make art, regardless of if the medium is canvas, paper, a computer monitor, film, or AI. AI can’t actually create, even Generative AI needs prior work to train on. As popular as CGI is, movies with well done practical effects are still made and those efforts are welcomed by audiences.
Still, we’re living in the era of slop. Does it matter how the slop is generated? These objections strikes me as fear of the future, fear of being found out as being easily replaced by a machine, and wanting to pull the ladder up behind them.
In the same way modern movies embraced CGI, they’ll need to embrace AI to some degree. Better done sooner rather than later. If they don’t the new generation of film makers, script writers, and VFX animators is going to come along and eat their lunch with the help of AI.
Well said.
There are uses for AI, but the issue with AI is, it’s uncanny valley stuff. The mind rebels against it.
[…] ∟Mark Hamill Condemns AI Actors — After Letting Disney Digitally Rebuild Him ∟James Cameron Slams AI-Generated Actors as “Horrifying” While Serving on Board of AI Company […]