Martin Scorsese has joined the AI image company Black Forest Labs as an adviser, a decision that has shocked some in the film and creative communities.
The legendary director — who has been nominated for an Academy Award 16 times, winning one in 2007 for The Departed — appeared to limit his enthusiasm for the controversial technology to storyboarding.
“For 70 years, I’ve been creating my own storyboards,” Scorsese says in the statement given to The New York Times. “There’s always been this problem of how do you communicate what you see in your head to your cast and crew. There are some things you have to see and feel.”
In the announcement video above, 83-year-old Scorsese is seen giving instructions to create a wintry town in Eastern Europe that he has in his head, which is generated from prompts entered by the Black Forest Labs team.
Scorsese says that the 125-year-old cinema industry is a “young medium” and that “we have to be open to how it can evolve.”
“I’m interested in the intersection of technology and storytelling, and seeing how that can push the bounds of creativity to create deeper and richer experiences for audiences,” Scorsese says
“Now with this tool, I can share what I’m visualizing more clearly and efficiently to my creative team — the production designer, art designer and cinematographer.”
“I recently tested this out on a scene, and the ability to visualize and immediately share the storyboard was creatively freeing,” he adds. “During the preproduction process, time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craft.”
AI and Cinema
That Scorsese, an icon of cinema who has directed influential movies like Goodfellas, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Taxi Driver, would join forces with a generative AI company will no doubt ruffle some feathers.
Black Forest Labs, which makes the FLUX AI image generator, was born out of Stability AI, the company that made Stable Diffusion. Scorsese signed on to become a partner of the German comapny last year via startup investor BroadLight Capital.
“What AI is doing is pulling from what everyone else has already done in terms of artistic creativity,” says Instagram page Reel Takes, who was critical of Scorsese’s decision. “They’re pulling from images that are already there.”
“You’re not going to tell me that Scorsese doesn’t understand the potential impact of his endorsement, which the Black Forest guys were literally giddy about,” he adds.
Scorsese isn’t the only legendary director to partner with an AI firm: filmmaker James Cameron is on the board of directors of Stability AI.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
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