James Cameron is joining Stability AI’s board of directors

Though director James Cameron recently expressed concern about the potential of artificial intelligence to leave people without a sense of purpose, the longtime early adopter has now joined Stability AI’s board of directors.

Today, Stability AI — the company behind Stable Diffusion — announced that Cameron has signed a deal to become the newest member of its executive leadership team. In a statement, CEO Prem Akkaraju described Cameron’s coming on as a “monumental statement” for the AI industry as a whole and described the director as someone who “lives in the future and waits for the rest of us to catch up.” Cameron cited his long history of experimenting with emerging technologies as part of what inspired him to join Stability AI’s ranks and pointed to “the intersection of generative AI and CGI image creation” as the next big breakthrough set to revolutionize the filmmaking industry. 

It’s not currently clear how Cameron’s arrival at Stability AI might influence the company, but the news comes at a time when studios have begun to show interest in working with AI firms more closely. Last week, Lionsgate announced a partnership with Runway to develop a generative AI model trained on its catalog of films and TV series, and earlier this year, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra said that the company intends to deploy the technology as a massive cost-saving measure.

Though AI companies and the studios working with them have been insistent that their collaborations will ultimately be a boon to the industry, the shift represented by these kinds of deals was part of what drove Hollywood’s actors and writers to go on strike last year.

Cameron himself has recently caught heat for using AI to remaster some of his classic films like The Abyss, True Lies, and Aliens. Stability is also currently dealing with multiple lawsuits for allegedly training its models on copyrighted material, which might complicate the company’s plans depending on how things shake out. But for all of the uncertainty that’s defining the AI space, Cameron sounds especially keen on throwing himself into it while it’s buzzing.