Discourse Erupts as Legendary Director Endorses Generative AI Startup
For years one of cinema's greatest ambassadors has been Martin Scorsese. The legendary New York director has been in the business making films since 1963, and has served as a major figure in the movement to keep film an art. Now, amidst one of the greatest ideological battles in the industry, Scorsese has apparently taken a side on the opinion of generative AI, and that is for.
Today, Scorsese appeared in a video for Black Forest Labs, a generative AI startup in which he was announced to be an ambassador.
In the video, we can see Scorsese using FLUX, the company's generative AI model to develop storyboards for a film, even comparing the generated storyboards to oil paintings, and describing them as conveying a "cinematic intelligence."
In a statement to The New York Times. Scorsese was quoted as saying:
"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," while also adding "cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve."
This has started a massive amount of discourse amongst those in the film community. It marks a major move for Hollywood in the ongoing debate of what to do with generative AI. With Scorsese occupying such an important role in the film space, this decision can be seen as indicative of a softening in opinion toward the technology from the film industry at large.
People took to the comments to give their thoughts on the surprising move from the typically traditionalist filmmaker.
"Kind of disappointing for him to endorse generative AI. He is an artist. He knows the value real humans bring to making a film."
"The storyboard artists who taught me and the people I've looked up to my whole life have had their work stolen to make this software possible. I've been a board artist for only a few years professionally and I've seen my whole industry collapse overnight. Many of my fellow artists have lost their livelihoods so the wealthy few can hoard more money. Art is made by the living. This isn't art."
"'It's just pre-production planning' okay sure who cares whatever. The issue is that this is a major and influential voice in filmmaking endorsing AI."
This is undoubtedly a large step forward in for the film industry in terms of its relationship to AI, and there's no telling where things will go from here on out.
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This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 11:27 AM.