Arnold Schwarzenegger says “The Terminator” is no longer a fantasy given the current state of artificial intelligence. Speaking at a press event in Los Angeles (via People), the actor said James Cameron’s 1984 action classic has now become a reality. The film is set in a world where an artificially intelligent defense network known as Skynet has become self-aware and has conquered humanity.
“Today, everyone is frightened of it, of where this is gonna go,” Schwarzenegger said about AI. “And in this movie, in ‘Terminator,’ we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over… 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. And so this is the extraordinary writing of Jim Cameron.”
Schwarzenegger added, “He’s just such an extraordinary writer and he’s such an unbelievable director, this is again, one of those things that I wish I could take credit for this movie. I can only take credit of the character that I played and the way I played it. But I mean, he has created this character. He has written it so well, he’s written the movie so well, and that’s why he is, you know, the number one director in the world.”
Artificial intelligence is now widespread in Hollywood, be it Paul McCartney using AI to clean up John Lennon’s archived vocals on an upcoming Beatles song or Marvel using AI to help its animators create the opening credits for its Disney+ series “Secret Invasion.”
“The growth of AI in terms of weapons systems and the problems that it is going to create have been very apparent for a lot of years,” Christopher Nolan recently told Wired magazine. “Few journalists bothered to write about it. Now that there’s a chatbot that can write an article for a local newspaper, suddenly it’s a crisis.”
Nolan said the main issue with AI is “a very simple one” and relates to the technology being used by companies to “evade responsibility for their actions.”
“I feel that AI can still be a very powerful tool for us. I’m optimistic about that. I really am,” he added. “But we have to view it as a tool. The person who wields it still has to maintain responsibility for wielding that tool. If we accord AI the status of a human being, the way at some point legally we did with corporations, then yes, we’re going to have huge problems.”
Schwarzenegger recently opened up more about “The Terminator” in his three-part Netflix documentary series “Arnold.” He admitted that he originally thought the film’s iconic “I’ll be back” line sounded “funny.” Schwarzenegger was playing a cyborg and thought “I will be back” sounded more “machine-like” and appropriate. When Schwarzenegger made the suggestion, Cameron fired back.
“He says, ‘Are you the writer?’” Schwarzenegger said. “And I said, ‘No,’ and he said, ‘Well, don’t tell me how to fucking write.’”
Cameron won the clash, and Schwarzenegger’s “I’ll be back” line went on to become the definitive moment of the “The Terminator” franchise and one of the most famous lines of movie dialogue in history.
