Arnold Schwarzenegger Breaks Down How AI Has Made ‘The Terminator’ No ‘Fantasy’

Arnold Schwarzenegger, at a Los Angeles event detailed in People this week, noted fears regarding AI before weighing in on where it fits into “The Terminator.”

“We talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over,” said Schwarzenegger, who added that people had “scratched the surface of AI” at the time of the film.

“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 [“The Terminator” director] Jim Cameron.”

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Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comments arrive months after Cameron, in an episode of the “Smartless” podcast in December, shared his hopes to incorporate a focus on AI in a future “Terminator” film.

“If I were to do another ‘Terminator’ film and maybe try to launch that franchise again, which is in discussion but nothing’s been decided, I would make it much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy,” he said.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, on Wednesday, praised Cameron as an “extraordinary writer” and director before adding that he wishes he could take credit for the movie.

“I can only take credit for the character that I played and the way I played it,” the actor said.

“But I mean, he has created this character. He has written it so well, he’s written the movie so well, and that’s why he is, you know, the number one director in the world.”

The actor told The Hollywood Reporter in May that while the “Terminator” franchise isn’t done, he’s done with it.

“I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes to The Terminator. Someone has to come up with a great idea. The Terminator was largely responsible for my success, so I always would look at it very fondly,” he said of the franchise.