James Cameron Calls Generative AI ‘Horrifying’ Ahead of Third ‘Avatar’ Film Release

The Oscar-winning director told CBS News that his ‘Avatar’ films were ‘a celebration of the actor-director moment.’

Acclaimed director James Cameron worked with National Geographic to produce "Secrets of the Octopus." National Geographic

The blue-skinned humanoid inhabitants of the fictional moon Pandora depicted in James Cameron’s “Avatar” films may appear as if they were wholly generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

But a bevy of real-life actors, among them Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, and Sigourney Weaver, brought the Na'vi characters to life on the big screen.

The blockbuster franchise—including the 2009 original, the 2022 follow-up, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” and the upcoming installment “Avatar: Fire and Ash”—was created using a combination of live-action footage and computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Cameron and his crew used motion capture technology to record the body movements, facial expressions, and voices of actors. The performance captures were then used as a template to create the humanlike Na'vi extraterrestrials—a groundbreaking technique the Oscar-winning “Titanic” director recently described as “the opposite” of AI.

“For years, there was this sense that, ‘Oh, they’re doing something strange with computers and they’re replacing actors,’ when in fact, once you really drill down and you see what we’re doing, it’s a celebration of the actor-director moment,” Cameron told CBS News in a Nov. 30 interview.

“Now, go to the other end of the spectrum, and you’ve got generative AI, where they can make up a character; they can make up an actor. They can make up a performance from scratch with a text prompt. ... That’s horrifying to me. That’s the opposite. That’s exactly what we’re not doing,” Cameron said.

Cameron has previously shared his thoughts on the use of AI in Hollywood, telling IGN in September 2025 that he was against using generative programs to write his scripts.

“Any good screenwriter has a particular lens on the world, a unique lived experience, and that’s what they’re there to express. That’s what directors do. That’s what actors do,” he said.

“I think Gen AI does offer a lot of potentialities and a lot of threats to our creative purpose in life. I think a lot of things are going to change over the next few years. I don’t think what’s going to ultimately change for me is storytelling with actors.”

This image released by 20th Century Fox of the characters Neytiri (R) and Jake in a scene from the 2009 movie "Avatar." 20th Century Fox/AP Photo, File

Set in the year 2154, “Avatar” centered on a paraplegic Marine veteran named Jake Sully, portrayed by Worthington. After falling in love with a Na'vi woman, played by Saldaña, during a mission to Pandora, Sully “becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home,” a synopsis reads.

The film earned nearly $3 billion globally, taking home Academy Awards for best cinematography, best visual effects, and best art direction in 2010.

“Avatar: The Way of Water,” which followed Sully and his new family on Pandora, was another box office phenomenon, grossing more than $2.3 billion in theaters worldwide.

Cameron and his team’s efforts to perfect the techniques of underwater performance capture technology used to create the 2022 film were chronicled in the 2025 Disney+ documentary “Fire and Water: Making the Avatar Films,” which debuted on Nov. 7.

The two-part documentary also provided a preview of the third chapter of “Avatar,” which will continue the saga on Pandora when it hits theaters on Dec. 19.