Credit: Orion Pictures Corp/Courtesy Everett CollectionArnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t turned into an AI robot – yet – but according to the actor, other aspects of his famed Terminator series are already infiltrating our world today.
The actor was discussing the brilliance of director James Cameron’s writing at his An Evening With Arnold Schwarzenegger event in Los Angeles on Wednesday, and he noted that many of Cameron’s predictions about AI have “become a reality” in our world today.
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“At that time we (had) scratched the surface of AI, artificial intelligence. Think about that. Now over the course of decades, it has become a reality, so it’s not any more fantasy or kind of futuristic. It is here today.”
The actor was mainly remarking on the brilliance of James Cameron’s predictive skills, but he also stopped to acknowledge that even without the frightening reality of the robots in Terminator, AI still poses a very real threat.
“Today, everyone is frightened of it, of where this is gonna go, and in this movie, in Terminator, we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over.”
AI Is Already Taking Over, But Artists Are Striking Back (Literally)
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AI hasn’t become self-aware yet, but we are in danger of it taking over, especially where writing is concerned. Already, publications are laying off staff left and right – National Geographic let go of its last staff writer just this week. Hollywood’s writers have gone on strike to prevent studios from slowly taking their jobs and giving them to ChatGPT or equivalent chatbots.
Not only writers – actors are now the latest group to join the front lines in the fight against AI, with SAG-AFTRA threatening to go on strike if their demands for updated contracts are not met – including ones limiting the use of an actor’s voice or likeness using AI.
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Digital artists, too, are facing the heat – Marvel has recently received blowback over the fact that the title cards for their new series Secret Invasion were made using AI, rather than the work of an artist who could use the job.
AI isn’t threatening to destroy humanity itself, but it is threatening to take away our art and our livelihood, and that is a threat that everyone – including the studios on the other side of the negotiating tables – should be taking seriously. There is no telling what we could lose just by replacing entry-level positions with robots.