Martin Scorsese accused of ‘throwing artists under bus’ with AI storyboards

• 01Martin Scorsese was appointed in 2025 as a partner and adviser to Black Forest Labs, a German-based venture specializing in text-to-image generative AI, according to the New York Times.
• 02Scorsese stated that he has used AI to create storyboards and said: 'For 70 years, I've been creating my own storyboards. There's always been this problem of how do you communicate what you see in your head to your cast and crew.'
• 03Scorsese said of the AI tool: 'I recently tested this out on a scene, and the ability to visualise and immediately share the storyboard was creatively freeing. During the preproduction process, time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craft.'
• 04Karla Ortiz, a concept artist on Marvel films including Black Panther, Avengers: Endgame, and Avengers: Infinity War, posted on social media criticizing Scorsese's use of AI.
• 05Samuel Deats, director of animated TV series Castlevania, posted on social media: 'There is absolutely no reason to need AI built on the stolen work of millions of artists to storyboard your vision, have some damn pride and respect your peers.'
• 06Steven Soderbergh used AI-generated sequences in his documentary John Lennon: The Last Interview, and Gareth Edwards, director of Jurassic World Rebirth, has endorsed AI as a tool.
• 07Tribeca film festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal defended screening Dreams of Violets, described as a fully AI-generated film about protesters in Iran.

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Martin Scorsese announced he has invested in and become an adviser to Black Forest Labs, a German AI company, and uses the technology to generate storyboards for filmmaking. Scorsese said the AI tool allows him to communicate his vision to cast and crew more efficiently and described it as 'creatively freeing,' though he stated he is not using AI-generated images in completed films but only in preproduction. The announcement prompted criticism from storyboard and concept artists who accused Scorsese of disrespecting peers and using technology built on artists' work without permission.