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Martin Scorsese Faces Backlash For Praising AI
AI Scorsese // Illustration by Kate Walker
Director Martin Scorsese is facing backlash from peers across the film industry over his new role at Black Forest Labs, a German AI company whose FLUX models generate images from text prompts.
The Big Picture: Although Scorsese hasn’t indicated any plans to use AI-generated images in a film, he does see value in the technology for creating storyboards. Critics, however, argue that using AI — even in the preparatory stages of filmmaking — raises serious ethical concerns and puts industry professionals’ jobs at risk.
Behind The Scenes: Scorsese was recently appointed as a partner and advisor to Black Forest Labs, and many storyboard artists say they feel betrayed by the move.
In a statement this week, Scorsese said, “For 70 years, I’ve been creating my own storyboards [...] Now with this tool, I can share what I’m visualizing more clearly and efficiently to my creative team.”
The director joins other film industry figures, including Steven Soderbergh, who have been open about their use of AI in filmmaking.
Karla Ortiz, a concept artist who has worked with Marvel, criticized the move in a post on X: “He throws every single storyboard artist he’s ever worked with under the bus, as he demolishes their livelihoods with models that are likely trained on those storyboard artists’ same works. To use his legacy and power for this is just so disgusting.”
End Scene: Generative AI, especially in creative fields, often raises ethical concerns, and that’s what many in the film industry are speaking out against. For starters, many AI models are trained on artists’ work without their consent. And if directors like Scorsese begin using it for storyboarding — if they aren’t already — it may not be long before storyboard artists find themselves out of a job.
Final Cut: While notable film industry figures like Seth Rogen and Hannah Einbinder have been outspoken critics of generative AI, a name as influential as Scorsese’s on the pro-AI side could help reshape how movies are made in the years ahead.
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Today’s email was written by Deena ElGenaidi and Kait Cunniff.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.