Arnold Schwarzenegger says he believes that The Terminator has “become a reality”.
According to Schwarzenegger, James Cameron’s film, which stars the former California governor, predicted the future regarding the rise of AI.
Speaking at An Evening with Arnold Schwarzenegger event in Los Angeles this week (June 28), the actor said he believes the current fear of AI can be linked to the film’s plot.
“Today, everyone is frightened of it, of where this is gonna go,” he said of AI. “And in this movie, in Terminator, we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over.”
He added that, given when the film was made in 1984 humans had only “scratched the surface of AI, artificial intelligence,” the writing was full of “brilliance”.
“Now over the course of decades, it has become a reality,” he added. 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.”
Of Cameron, Schwarzenegger added: “He’s just such an extraordinary writer and he’s such an unbelievable director, this is again, one of those things that I wish I could take credit for this movie.
“I can only take credit of the character that I played and the way I played it. 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.”
Elsewhere, Schwarzenegger has said that he would run for president now if he could, saying that he could “see so clearly” how he would win. The action star – who was born in Austria and moved to the US in 1968 before becoming a US citizen in 1983 – is not eligible to run, but said it would be “a no brainer” if he could.
“The Constitution says that the President has to be a natural born US citizen. If not for that, would you have run for president?” Schwarzenegger was asked in an episode of Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?.
“Well, yes, of course,” the actor responded (via People). “I mean, I think the field was wide open in 2016. And I think the field is open right now. I mean, think about it right now. I mean, who is there? There is really not a person that can bring everyone together,” he continued.
“Who is here today that people say okay, he’s not too old or he’s not too this or too that, or is that because it’s now a question about who do you vote against than who do you vote for.”
Elsewhere, a second season of his show Fubar has been confirmed by Netflix.