The Art Directors Guild on Tuesday issued a statement criticising filmmaker Martin Scorsese over his recent collaboration with AI startup Black Forest Labs, accusing him of “turning his back on the human artists who throughout his career have helped him create his most memorable works.”
Referring to a promotional video for Black Forest Labs’ generative AI system FLUX, the guild wrote, “In the recently released Black Forest Labs video promoting their generative AI product FLUX, Mr. Scorsese asks the question, ‘how do you communicate what you see in your head to your cast and crew?’ He claims the solution is the use of this generative AI program to do the jobs that are rightfully the jurisdiction of Art Directors Guild Local 800 artists and designers – human artists and designers who have been successfully collaborating with directors to visualize their films for decades”.
“Mr. Scorsese’s promotion of a generative AI product circumvents the input of Art Directors Guild Local 800 art directors, graphic artists, illustrators, production designers, scenic artists, set designers, and other talented Union professionals,” the statement further says.
Black Forest Labs on June 2 unveiled Scorsese as a new advisor, saying the appointment was intended to “push the bounds of creativity to create deeper and richer experiences for audiences.” In a statement published on the company’s website, Scorsese said cinema “is a young medium” and that filmmakers “have to be open to how it can evolve.”
Scorsese also defended his use of emerging technologies, pointing to earlier experiments in his work. Scorsese continued, “I utilised 3D with ‘Hugo’ and de-aging technology for ‘The Irishman’. 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 — for them to build on to enrich cinematic intelligence.”
The controversy has also drawn criticism from other figures in the film industry. On June 3, Boots Riley, director of I Love Boosters, wrote on X that he believed Scorsese’s partnership with Black Forest Labs may have been financially motivated.
Riley wrote, “My guess: at 83, they gave his family a gang of money (they throw tens of millions left&right) he wanted the income stream4them& feels like ‘AI’ will fall on its face anyway, so he doesnt give a fuck. If that’s not the case, extrafuck him. Separately, go see ‘I Love Boosters’ today.”