LogInIf you can't fight them, join them, apparently.
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Back in the Summer of 2023, Titanic and Avatar director James Cameron made a powerful statement against the rapid advancements in the AI field, aligning with industry experts' concerns about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence and saying that he had tried to warn humanity back in 1984, referencing The Terminator films, but no one listened.
But oh, how the mighty have fallen. Fast forward a year, and Cameron's views seem to have done a complete 180, with Stability AI, the firm behind the image generator Stable Diffusion, announcing that the legendary director would be joining their board of directors. In what most certainly feels like a clear case of "if you can't beat them, join them," Cameron has reportedly come on board to drive the company's growth, with Stability AI planning to leverage the director's "artist-centric perspective, paired with his business and technical acumen".
"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," Cameron said in the statement. "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. 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."
"James Cameron lives in the future and waits for the rest of us to catch up," added Stability AI CEO Prem Akkaraju. "Stability AI's mission is to transform visual media for the next century by giving creators a full stack AI pipeline to bring their ideas to life. We have an unmatched advantage to achieve this goal with a technological and creative visionary like James at the highest levels of our company. This is not only a monumental statement for Stability AI, but the AI industry overall."
StudioCanal
As strange as it may seem for The Terminator director to join an AI firm, what's even stranger is the timing, with Cameron becoming one of Stability AI's directors just as the company is about to face trial for copyright infringement, database right infringement, and trademark infringement. The lawsuit, filed by Getty Images, accuses the Stable Diffusion creator of allegedly scraping millions of images from Getty's website without permission to train and develop its AI model.
As a cherry on top, this news comes amidst a strike initiated by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) on behalf of video game actors over concerns that their likenesses and voices are being used to train generative AI models. With all that in mind, it sure seems that Cameron has boarded Titanic despite knowing better, only this time, the odds of the ship eventually hitting its iceberg appear much higher.
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