Popverse's top stories of the day

• Humanity blossoms into something... new in BOOM! Studios' In Bloom this December
• Agatha All Along got you wondering how magic works in the MCU? Here's your guide to Marvel's many on-screen magicians
• What can we learn from the brief life of Jermaine Clement and Taika Waititi's Time Bandits reboot from Apple TV+?

Thankfully, you and I aren't in danger of AI in the same way that the characters of Terminator: Zero are. But there is a growing concern about a different kind of AI in or real world, and one of those concerned individuals is Mattson Tomlin, the showrunner for Netflix's anime entry into the Terminator franchise and screenwriter of Matt Reeves's upcoming The Batman Part II.

Tomlin was recently promoting Terminator: Zero at a special screening for Anime NYC 2024, which he attended along with Bleach animator Masashi Kudō. And since the show does deal a lot with the concept of Artificial Intelligence, moderator Khleo Thomas brought the subject up to the panelists. 

Tomlin called AI "very scary to me on a personal level," relating how quickly AI art went from wonky images with too many fingers to images that are borderline indistinguishable from real photographs, a common concern from people worried about AI's potential for spreading harmful disinformation. 

"Every tool humanity has made has turned into a weapon," said Tomlin, a statement which is also a major theme in Terminator: Zero. In fact, Tomlin is basically pulling a direct quote from the character of Kokoro (voiced in English by Rosario Dawson), who is, ironically, a potentially dangerous AI herself.

Tomlin ended his answer by admitting that, like most inventions, there is a potential for AI to do great good for humanity, if it's in the right hands.

"But it's not by putting comic book artists out of work," he ended.

Terminator: Zero is on Netflix now.

Want to know what's coming up next in pop culture? Check out our guides to upcoming movies, upcoming TV shows, upcoming comics, and upcoming comic conventions. If you're looking for specific franchises or genres, we have all the upcoming MCU, upcoming Star Wars, upcoming Star Trek, and upcoming DC movies & TV for you. If you're a fan of superheroes and not specific to just Marvel or DC, we have overall guides to all the upcoming superhero movies and upcoming superhero TV shows (and new seasons) as well.