James Cameron warns of a 'nuclear arms race with AI' as he opens up on the biggest danger

As Artificial Intelligence rapidly grows and seemingly takes over the world, James Cameron has had his say on the dangers of the technology, warning of a 'nuclear arms race'.

Not exactly what you want to be hearing mid-week, right?

But there's simply no denying the powers of AI as of late - with AI robots recently telling the UN they could run the world better than 'human leaders', and AI being able to bring our favorite cartoon characters to life; it's remarkable how far technology has come.

But as remarkable as it is, there's no doubting how straight up terrifying it is, too.

And to implement that fear further, film director James Cameron has opened up about his own concerns of the rise of AI.

As well as being one of the most recognised figures in filmmaking, Cameron is also pretty clued up in the world of technology, with him being an expert on deep-sea exploration and contributing to advancements in underwater filming and remotely operated vehicles.

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But what about when it comes to AI?

And no, co-writing and directing the 1984 classic The Terminator - a film about an advanced robot assassin able to travel through time - doesn't quite count.

Speaking to CTV News in a recent exclusive interview, Cameron touched upon the topic of AI technology and agreed with concerns raised by experts in recent times over its advancements.

"I absolutely share their concern," the director said.

"I warned you guys in 1984, and you didn't listen."

Cameron added that it’s important to evaluate who is developing the technology, and whether they’re doing it for profit - 'teaching greed', or for defence -'teaching paranoia'.

"I think the weaponization of AI is the biggest danger,” he said.

"I think that we will get into the equivalent of a nuclear arms race with AI, and if we don't build it, the other guys are for sure going to build it, and so then it'll escalate."

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Elsewhere in the interview, Cameron expressed no concern over AI bots being able to 'write a good story' - a possibility raised in the ongoing Screen Actors Guild / American Federation of Television and Radio Artists writers' strike.

He said: "I just don’t personally believe that a disembodied mind that’s just regurgitating what other embodied minds have said — about the life that they’ve had, about love, about lying, about fear, about mortality — and just put it all together into a word salad and then regurgitate it… I don’t believe that’s ever going to have something that’s going to move an audience.

"You have to be human to write that.

"I don’t know anyone that’s even thinking about having AI write a screenplay."