The Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger claims that James Cameron predicted the future of artificial intelligence with his classic sci-fi film. Written and developed with Gale Anne Hurd, Cameron had initially met with Schwarzenegger for the role of Kyle Reese, while the studio had originally suggested O. J. Simpson for the role of the killer machine from the future. During their meeting, however, Cameron was impressed by the body-builder-turned-actor who spent much of his time talking about how the movie’s villain should be played. Schwarzenegger’s eventual casting in the role would help define his career for decades.
During the recent “An Evening with Arnold Schwarzenegger” event held in Los Angeles (via People), the iconic actor spoke about Cameron’s skill as a writer and filmmaker, citing the real-world parallels featured in his original 1984 film. He explained how the notion of artificial intelligence, which underpinned The Terminator, has become a modern-day reality. Check out his comments below:
“Today, everyone is frightened of [AI], of where this is gonna go, and in this movie, in Terminator, we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over… at that time we (had) scratched the surface of AI, artificial intelligence. Think about that."
“Now over the course of decades, it has become a reality. So it's not any more fantasy or kind of futuristic. It is here today. And so this is the extraordinary writing of Jim Cameron.”
How Terminator’s Skynet Has Defined Artificial Intelligence In Popular Culture
While Schwarzenegger praised Cameron for bringing the concept of artificial intelligence into popular culture, its use as a thematic device in science fiction predates The Terminator by more than a century. The notion of intelligent machines, who might supplant humankind, can be traced as far back as Samuel Butler's 1872 novel Erewhon. Meanwhile, the 1927 expressionist film Metropolis is often credited as its first appearance in cinema. For modern audiences, however, it would be hard to find a more well-known example than the Terminator franchise's Skynet.
With AI currently inserting itself into 21st-century life at a rapid and sometimes uncomfortable pace, the cautionary warnings of the original Terminator film and its sequels are often used to illustrate the technology’s potential dangers. While contemporary AI technology may still be miles away from becoming self-aware and capable of launching an all-out war on humanity, the technology is already being widely criticized for the existential threat it poses to many professions, including artists, writers, and musicians. The less-than-positive light in which the Terminator franchise depicts the technology often resonates strongly with those who seek to bolster their own concerns in ways more widely understood by lay audiences.
Though it would be disingenuous to suggest that without The Terminator the world of science-fiction would be devoid of other examples of artificial intelligence to draw upon, Cameron’s movies are undoubtedly the most widely known and celebrated. Without Schwarzenegger’s iconic performance as the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 Series 800 Terminator (or T-800), many other properties, such as The Matrix, would likely have never come to fruition. Whether real-life AI will ever evolve into humanity’s ultimate villain remains to be seen, but the technology’s biggest critics will undoubtedly continue to draw parallels to Cameron’s Skynet.
Source: People
