As Martin Scorsese embraces artificial intelligence (AI) in Hollywood, his filmmaking peers are reacting to the Oscar winner’s new role.
Boots Riley recently criticized Scorsese for his “attempt to push the industry toward” genAI with his advisor position at AI firm Black Forest Labs, suggesting he only joined the company for the money.
“My guess: at 83, they gave his family a gang of money (they throw tens of millions left and right) he wanted the income stream [for] them and feels like ‘AI’ will fall on its face anyway, so he doesn’t give a fuck,” he wrote on X. “If that’s not the case, extra fuck him. Separately, go see I Love Boosters today.”
The I Love Boosters writer/director sarcastically added in another post, “Like- yeah the problem with filmmaking is ‘we didn’t have the tools to be creative before this.’”
“To be clear, my vitriol is not about him using it, I’d likely simply sneer at that in private. It’s about him using his cache [to] promote this and attempt to push the industry toward it. They need him. One Trillion spent on generative AI and it’s not saving anyone or changing film yet,” said Riley.
Riley even shared some of his “TERRIBLY DRAWN storyboards” for I Love Boosters, now in theaters, explaining why Black Forest Labs’ Flux tool for creating storyboards is unnecessary.
“Later- we did have an amazing artist re-do them, but planned through most of prep using these. It worked,” he wrote. “You don’t have to use AI to do this shit.”
On Tuesday, Black Forest Labs announced Scorsese’s new role as an advisor, helping shape the company’s “visual intelligence.”
“For 70 years, I’ve been creating my own storyboards,” he said in a statement. “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. 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 continued, “Remember, cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve. I utilized 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. I recently tested this out on a scene and the ability to visualize and immediately share the storyboard was creatively freeing. During the pre-production process, time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craft.”
The use of AI in Hollywood continues to be a hot-button topic. Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA has endorsed the Trump administration’s AI policy framework, which calls for Congress to enact legislation that includes parental controls, intellectual property rights protection, First Amendment protections, expanding AI workforce development, allowing data centers to generate their own power, and removing legal barriers that limit AI innovation.
On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order for voluntary framework in which AI companies would provide the government with access to new models for a 30-day review period before their release.
