Martin Scorsese just gave his storyboard pencil an AI sidekick, and a chunk of the film world isn't OK about it. The 83-year-old Goodfellas director has become a partner and adviser to AI startup Black Forest Labs and says he's now using its image generator to create storyboards, per a statement to the New York Times and a new promo video from the company. Scorsese says the tool lets his team "move faster without sacrificing quality or craft" and helps him more clearly convey what's in his head to his production designer, art director, and cinematographer.
Online reaction was swift and irritated, with critics accusing the legend of helping automate a job long done by human artists, per Futurism. "Putting storyboard artists out of work is bad and that should not be a controversial opinion," wrote one commenter. "I feel like I'm going to throw up," film journalist Richard Newby wrote on X, noting that even though Scorsese seems to be planning to use AI just for storyboards, even doing that "further normalizes AI throughout the industry. If it can be used for [storyboarding] and accepted then it can be used for anything."
TechCrunch notes that Scorsese seems the "most unlikely" name out of Hollywood to be stumping for AI, while Gizmodo claims the filmmaker has jumped to the "dark side." Others described the move as a "stain" on Scorsese's legacy, with Futurism calling it a "gut punch," particularly given Scorsese's longtime work championing film history and international cinema through efforts like his Film Foundation.
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