James Cameron has joined the board of directors of Stability AI, bringing his expertise as an artistic and tech visionary to the gen AI innovator.
Throughout his career, the Oscar-winning writer, producer and director has pushed creative and technical boundaries of filmmaking with his movies including “Titanic,” “Avatar” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” — three of the four highest-grossing movies of all time–as well as “The Terminator,” “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” “Aliens” and “The Abyss.” His next movie, “Avatar: Fire and Ice” is in production and set for release on Dec. 19, 2025.
“James Cameron lives in the future and waits for the rest of us to catch up,” said Stability AI CEO Prem Akkaraju, who is also a former CEO of Weta, the visual effects studio on Cameron’s “Avatar” movies. “Stability AI’s mission is to transform visual media for the next century by giving creators a full stack AI pipeline to bring their ideas to life. We have an unmatched advantage to achieve this goal with a technological and creative visionary like James at the highest levels of our company. This is not only a monumental statement for Stability AI, but the AI industry overall.” Akkaraju added, “The next frontier in visual media will be forged by a true fusion of artist and technology.”
Stability AI was founded in 2019 and best known for its text-to-image model Stable Diffusion, which the company reports has surpassed 150 million downloads. More recently, it launched Stable Audio for music and sound generation.
Since last spring, the company appointed several new board members including Akkaraju and Sean Parker, the entrepreneur and former president of Facebook who now serves as Stability AI’s executive chairman. Last month, former Fox CTO Hanno Basse was named the company’s CTO. Last spring the company also raised a reported $80 million in funding. Investors include Greycroft, Coatue Management, Lightspeed Venture Partners, O’Shaughnessy Ventures, Parker and Akkaraju.
Said Cameron, who is also chair of Lightstorm, in a released statement: “I’ve spent my career seeking out emerging technologies that push the very boundaries of what’s possible, all in the service of telling incredible stories. I was at the forefront of CGI over three decades ago, and I’ve stayed on the cutting edge since. Now, the intersection of generative AI and CGI image creation is the next wave. The convergence of these two totally different engines of creation will unlock new ways for artists to tell stories in ways we could have never imagined. Stability AI is poised to lead this transformation. I’m delighted to collaborate with Sean, Prem, and the Stability AI team as they shape the future of all visual media.”
Added Parker: “James Cameron is a legend, both for his artistic vision as a filmmaker and his role as a pioneering technologist. Having an artist of his caliber with a seat at the table marks the start of a new chapter for Stability AI. We’re incredibly excited by the limitless potential for creative collaboration between generative media platforms and the artistic community.”
Cameron’s innovations have extended beyond filmmaking. He co-designed and co-engineered the submersible that he dove to Challenger Deep in 2012, becoming the first person to descend to Earth’s deepest point as a solo pilot. Cameron is also passionately involved in sustainability issues, having founded the Avatar Alliance Foundation to address climate change, energy policy, indigenous rights, ocean conservation, and sustainable agriculture.