James Cameron is sounding the alarm on AI — and he’s basically saying, “Remember Terminator 2? Yeah, that wasn’t just a movie.” In a new interview with Puck, the director warned that artificial intelligence could become a real-world “existential issue” if it’s not properly regulated. He said AI is growing so fast and becoming so capable that it risks replacing human artistry, human jobs, and eventually human purpose. According to Cameron, without guardrails, we’re flirting with the same kind of takeover he imagined more than 30 years ago with Skynet. He believes Hollywood needs strict self-policing, with guilds playing a major role, because leaving everything to the government would be “a blunt instrument.” The 2023 writers’ strike, he said, was the first big moment when the industry planted a flag on AI — but there’s still a long way to go. Cameron argued that AI’s output is basically “average” — a blender of generic ideas — and that real art comes from human quirks, flaws, and lived experience. He says that’s what audiences value, not perfection. But here’s where things get spicy: Cameron’s critics have been calling him a hypocrite. Earlier this year, he joined the board of Stability AI, the company behind Stable Diffusion, and admitted he’s looking into how AI could slash blockbuster budgets in half. His next Avatar film will even open with a title card bragging that no generative AI was used, even as he’s simultaneously studying how to integrate AI into the VFX pipeline.