‘That’s Not About Laying Off Half The Staff.’ James Cameron Explains Why He Pivoted On A.I. And Why He Thinks It’s Important For Making Blockbuster Movies

Co-writer/director James Cameron has put a lot of time and effort into making his 2025 movie schedule epic Avatar: Fire and Ash for some time now, and as a result, he and his studio partners have sunk a ton of money into the process. While Avatar 3’s 3D footage debut may have delighted some, the Hollywood icon’s recent decision to join the board of Stability A.I. generated quite a bit of controversy. This has led Cameron to set the record straight, with a nuanced argument about the exact corner he’s turned on machine thinking’s role in moviemaking.

After Joining Stability A.I.’s Board, James Cameron Explained His Current Stance

Recently, James Cameron joined the board of Stability A.I., which some fans thought of as a move that saw the Titanic director sleeping with the enemy. This all arrives at quite the time, too, considering Fire and Ash’s release date is set to potentially ring in another green Christmas for Disney.

Speaking with the Boz to the Future podcast, hosted by Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, Cameron provided more context as to how, and more specifically why, he’s embracing this space – starting with this core understanding:

The goal was to understand the space, to understand what’s on the minds of the developers. What are they targeting? What’s their development cycle? How much resources you have to throw at it to create a new model that does a purpose-built thing, and my goal was to try to integrate it into a VFX workflow. Right? And it’s not just hypothetical, we have to.

James Cameron has always been known as a creator that’s walked the bleeding line of technology. The Terminator franchise mastermind co-founded the legendary effects house Digital Domain to serve that very purpose.

But of course, as we’re now in the age of the Avatar franchise pushing the boundaries of visual effects even further, a lot more work is required to make that magic possible. And as everyone knows, work takes time, and time equals money.

James Cameron Wants To Help More Major VFX Showcases Like Dune Get Off The Ground

Part of the reason why huge spectacle-driven films are so expensive to make is because of the fact that the VFX are so labor intensive. Further explaining why he’s into using A.I. as more of a tool in the process, the True Lies helmer laid out this next key principle that seeks to address that problem:

If we want to continue to see the kinds of movies that I’ve always loved and that I like to make and that I will go to see — call it Dune, Dune: Two, something like that, or one of my films or big effects-heavy, CG-heavy films — we’ve got to figure out how to cut the cost of that in half.

Not every studio can drop an Avatar-sized investment like 20th Century Studios did, and not every movie that does is guaranteed to break even if it does. A Minecraft Movie’s massive opening weekend was surely a blessing to Warner Bros. execs, as that haul brought in over double the estimated $150 million production cost.

Even With A.I. Assistance, James Cameron Is Passionate About Keeping Humans Employed

Cost cutting on these vital processes would be a good way towards helping more risk-averse decision makers gambling on the next fresh idea. That’s where the most important part of James Cameron’s A.I. argument comes in, as the quote included below indicates the exact duties he intends machine assistance to perform – and how it helps humans stay in the picture:

Now that’s not about laying off half the staff and at a VFX company. That’s about doubling their speed to completion on a given shot, so your cadence is faster and your throughput cycle is faster, and artists get to move on and do other cool things and then other cool things, right? That’s my sort of vision for that.

If anyone really thought that James Cameron was cozying up with the machines, they’ve got another thing coming. After all, he is the same man who (via Twitter) stated that Avatar: Fire and Ash will have a title card that swears it doesn’t use any generative A.I. in its production.

Everything James Cameron said above is especially important when you consider how this upcoming Disney movie is slated for release this December. Even with the first film making a massive box office profit, Avatar 4 and 5 weren’t given the green light automatically. It doesn’t matter who you are in this industry; time is money, and money equals risk. This director is trying to solve that problem.