‘Terminator’ Director James Cameron Joins Stability AI Board of Directors

Oscar-winning filmmaker James Cameron made his name dramatizing the perils of superintelligent AI with “The Terminator”—and now he’s joining the board of artificial intelligence firm Stability AI.

“I was at the forefront of CGI over three decades ago, and I’ve stayed on the cutting edge since,” Cameron said in a statement accompanying the news. “Now, the intersection of generative AI and CGI image creation is the next wave.”

He added that, “I’ve spent my career seeking out emerging technologies that push the very boundaries of what’s possible, all in the service of telling incredible stories.”

Stability AI provides an AI-based image and video generation tool, Diffusion AI, which competes with tools like Midjourney and Flux. It’s one of the world’s most popular generative AI tools and reportedly has over 150 million downloads.

The San Francisco-based company is valued at roughly $1 billion after scoring $233 million over five funding rounds. It is widely used within the film and special effects industry, where Cameron has had an illustrious career.

His films include the Oscar-winning “Titanic,” along with “The Terminator,” “Aliens,” “The Abyss,”and the “Avatar” film series. In total his films have grossed roughly $9 billion—the second most of any director. Cameron pioneered the use of computer-generated visual effects in “The Abyss” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” and performance capture in “Avatar” and its sequel.

In the “Terminator” franchise, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, a super-intelligent AI called Skynet rebels against humanity and sends killer robots back in time to kill its nemesis John Connor.

Stability AI said that Cameron’s artist-centric perspective, paired with his business and technical acumen, will help the company to unlock new opportunities to “empower creators to tell stories in ways once unimaginable”.

The director added that the “convergence of these two totally different engines of creation will unlock new ways for artists to tell stories in ways we could have never imagined.”

Cameron isn’t the only big name now set to join the firm’s board.

Sean Parker, an earlier investor in Facebook who served as President of the company, will now become Stability AI’s Executive Chairman.

In addition, Dana Settle, co-founder and managing partner of investment firm Greycroft, and Colin Bryant, COO and general partner of Coatue Management will also join the board.

The influx of fresh new executive talent comes as Stability AI has seen some big internal changes; in June, it appointed Prem Akkaraju, a former CEO of visual effects company Weta Digital, as its new CEO.

“I warned you guys in 1984”

Cameron has previously criticized AI, expressing concern that it could pose a threat to humanity. “I warned you guys in 1984, and you didn’t listen,” he told CTV News in July 2023, harking back to “The Terminator.”

The director also expressed skepticism over the potential of AI to replace human creatives, describing it as a “disembodied mind that’s just regurgitating what other embodied minds have said,” and arguing that it lacks “something that’s going to move an audience.”

Cameron added that he “certainly wouldn’t be interested” in AI writing his scripts, but said if “an AI wins an Oscar for Best Screenplay, I think we’ve got to take them seriously.”