Martin Scorsese Partners with AI Firm, Sparks Backlash
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- Martin Scorsese was appointed in 2025 as a partner and adviser to Black Forest Labs, a German text‑to‑image generative AI venture.
- Martin Scorsese said AI storyboards let him visualize and share his vision more clearly and efficiently during pre‑production, saving time and money.
- Karla Ortiz, a Marvel concept artist, posted that Scorsese “throws every single storyboard artist he’s ever worked with under the bus,” calling it “disgusting.”
- Samuel Deats, director of Castlevania, warned that AI storyboards rely on “the stolen work of millions of artists” and urged pride and respect for peers.
- Steven Soderbergh used AI‑generated sequences in his documentary “John Lennon: The Last Interview,” while other filmmakers such as Gareth Edwards praised AI as “a fucking genius” and Jane Rosenthal defended an AI‑generated film about Iran protests.
Why it matters: Scorsese’s AI tool cuts pre‑production time and cost, while storyboard artists claim it threatens their livelihoods and devalues their work, sparking a debate over AI’s role in filmmaking.
