Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks James Cameron predicted A.I with The Terminator - he might be right

With artificial intelligence becoming more of a mainstay now in everyday life, so comes the “stranger danger” element of a technology that has been both a tool for positivity (in the case of Paul McCartney finishing a Beatles album) and also a tool for ill means (Drake’s A.I songs debacle. Thankfully A.I Poet Drake wasn’t too good). 

For every good article about A.I comes an aside about its dangers. Will machines take over the world through artificial intelligence like some dystopian sci-fi thriller? Speaking of dystopian sci-fi thrillers and artificial intelligence, ‘The Terminator’ actor Arnold Schwarzenegger believes that James Cameron forecasted the use of A.I back during his time writing and directing the iconic role that made Arnie a household name. 

While chatting on Wednesday to audiences present for ‘An Evening with Arnold Schwarzenegger,’ the former ‘Governator’ said that artificial intelligence concepts the director showcased in his films have "become a reality. 

"Today, everyone is frightened of it, of where this is gonna go. And in this movie, in Terminator, we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over,” he discussed with the audience. “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.”

He’s kind of correct - though ‘The Terminator’ franchise deals with the advent of technology rising up against mankind and rebels against its makers, it wasn’t a James Cameron film from the franchise that accurately summed up the ‘dangers’ of artificial intelligence. That honour we feel should be bestowed upon Jonathan Mostow's somewhat reviled entry into the franchise, ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.’

How did artificial intelligence destroy humanity in ‘Terminator 3’?

While Clare Danes and Nick Stahl were being chased by Kristanna Loken’s T-X antagonist and the pair helped by Schwarzenegger’s beloved Terminator character, it was actually Skynet’s hostile takeover that was the more eerily accurate portrayal of A.I gone wrong.

While Skynet in previous films was alluded to as merely machines and the “big bad” of the franchise going online and rogue, we never did quite find out “how” Skynet went online and went into kill mode. However, ‘Terminator 3’ did demonstrate what happened, and it’s something that cybersecurity experts could contend is a plausible scenario.

With a computer virus invading servers across the world, General Brewster is ordered by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to launch Skynet to prevent the attacks taking place. Pushed into launching a programme that hasn’t fully been beta tested (from the sounds of things), Skynet is launched - but much like the concerns surrounding A.I, the system becomes self-aware, as it turns out the virus itself was a form of mechanical learning from Skynet.

And then, as fans of the film (and there’s a few of you out there still, admit it) will attest, all hell breaks loose. While James Cameron laid down the foundations of the entire franchise, some credit needs to go to the story writers John Brancato, Michael Ferris and Tedi Sarafian who provided the how and why of Skynet’s eventual takeover rather than just alluding that A.I had gone rogue in the previous films.