Arnold Schwarzenegger Says AI Advancements Mean The Terminator Is No Longer 'Fantasy'

Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that the type of technology seen in The Terminator four decades ago is now a “reality.”

The actor spoke at a Los Angeles event about societal fears regarding artificial intelligence before weighing in on how it relates to the iconic 1984 film.

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

“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.”

Schwarzenegger’s comments arrive months after Cameron, who directed and co-wrote the original Terminator movie, shared his hopes to incorporate a focus on AI in a future entry in the franchise.

“If I were to do another Terminator film ... I would make it much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy,” he said on a podcast in December.

At the Los Angeles event, Schwarzenegger praised Cameron as an “extraordinary writer” before commenting on his own contribution to The Terminator.

“I can only take credit of the character that I played and the way I played it,” the actor said, going on to call Cameron “the number one director in the world.”

Schwarzenegger previously told The Hollywood Reporter in May that although the Terminator franchise may continue, 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,” he said. “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.”