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\n\tJames Cameron<\/a> wants moviegoers to know before \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash<\/a>\u201d opens in theaters worldwide that no generative AI was used in the making of the sequel. Speaking to ComicBook.com<\/a>, the Oscar winner said he was speaking out on the matter not because he has a vendetta against generative AI, but because he has an issue with people thinking anything but real human actors were used to bring the \u201cAvatar\u201d characters to life via performance capture technology.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m not negative about generative AI,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cI just wanted to point out we don\u2019t use it on the \u2018Avatar\u2019 films. We honor and celebrate actors. We don\u2019t replace actors. That\u2019s going to find its level. I think Hollywood will be self-policing on that. We\u2019ll find our way through that. But we can only find our way through it as artists if we exist. So it\u2019s the existential threat from big AI that worries me more than all that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCameron and his \u201cAvatar\u201d actors have spent decades trying to show the industry just how real the performances are in the franchise. Zoe Salda\u00f1a, who plays Neytiri in the \u201cAvatar\u201d movies, told\u00a0Beyond Noise\u00a0<\/a>earlier this year that performance capture \u201cis the most empowering form of acting\u201d because \u201cit gives us the credit, the ability to own 100% of our performance on screen.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPerformance capture means that \u2018Avatar\u2019 wouldn\u2019t exist if Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, myself and the entire cast didn\u2019t get up and put those dots on our faces,\u201d she said. \u201cFrom the archery, the martial arts, the free diving, the scuba diving \u2014 so that you can hold your breath under water for longer than five minutes \u2014 to the language [James] conceived out of thin air, to physically training with former gymnasts, circus performers, and acrobats so you can learn how to walk like an extraterrestrial human species\u2026 That\u2019s all us, and a group of incredible stunt actors that make our characters feel bionic. God bless them. With the technology that Jim creates, he gives the artist the power of complete ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCameron\u00a0told\u00a0Variety<\/a>\u00a0in 2024 as part of a Salda\u00f1a cover story that the Oscars are overdue to recognize her work as Neytiri in the \u201cAvatar\u201d franchise.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019ve worked with Academy Award-winning actors, and there\u2019s nothing that Zoe\u2019s doing that\u2019s of a caliber less than that,\u201d the director said. \u201cBut because in my film she\u2019s playing a \u2018CG character,\u2019 it kind of doesn\u2019t count in some way, which makes no sense to me whatsoever. She can go from regal to, in two nanoseconds, utterly feral. The woman is ferocious. She is a freaking lioness.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCameron remains dedicated to human performers when it comes to the acting in his movies. He told CBS\u2019 Sunday Morning<\/a> last month that it is \u201chorrifying\u201d how generative AI can now create artificial actors for the screen.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYou\u2019ve got generative AI, where they can make up a character,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cThey can make up an actor. They can make up a performance from scratch with a text prompt. It\u2019s like, no. That\u2019s horrifying to me.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBut Cameron is not entirely anti-AI when it comes to Hollywood. He announced\u00a0<\/a>in September 2024 that he was joining the board of directors for Stability AI,\u00a0the company behind the text-to-image model Stable Diffusion. Speaking on the\u00a0\u201cBoz to the Future\u201d podcast<\/a> earlier ths year, Cameron explained his interest in AI by saying the future of blockbuster filmmaking hinges on being able to \u201ccut the cost of [VFX] in half.\u201d The director openly admitted he was exploring ways to responsibly filter AI into the VFX workflow.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIf we want to continue to see the kinds of movies that I\u2019ve always loved and that I like to make and that I will go to see \u2014 \u2018Dune,\u2019 \u2018Dune: Part Two,\u2019 or one of my films or big effects-heavy, CG-heavy films \u2014 we\u2019ve got to figure out how to cut the cost of that in half,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cNow that\u2019s not about laying off half the staff and at the effects company. That\u2019s 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\u2019s my sort of vision for that.\u201d<\/p>\n