Martin Scorsese Is Embracing AI (For Storyboarding)

A NY Times piece is about to send film Twitter into meltdown, and it’s only because of how its headline is phrased: “Martin Scorsese Is Embracing AI.”

Woah, say it ain’t so — has Martin Scorsese gone full Paul Schrader? Will he also wind up having an AI girlfriend like his “Taxi Driver” screenwriter recently admitted?

Not necessarily. Scorsese isn’t embracing the use of AI in his movies — at least not yet — but rather publicly backing a generative AI company that will make storyboarding easier for him. He’s aligned himself with Black Forest Labs, a fast-growing image-generation startup, revealing that he has already used its tools during the preproduction of his next film, “What Happens at Night.”

In a statement and video filmed in his New York office, Scorsese argued that filmmaking should remain open to technological change as a relatively young art form.

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. Remember, cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve.

The way Scorsese talks about it is pretty familiar if you’ve followed his interviews over the years. He’s interested in storytelling tools, and more specifically in how you get what’s in your head across to other people. That said, I would not be shocked at all if the time comes for Scorsese to fully embrace AI use in actual filmmaking. I bet he’s wondering just how much cheaper the de-aging process in “The Irishman” would have cost had he used the technology.

Now, don’t get me wrong: a vocal majority of the industry is firmly against AI. But there have also been some notable filmmakers—mostly older veterans—who have actually come out in support of its use in cinema: Darren Aronofsky, Roger Deakins, Brady Corbet, Michael Mann, James Cameron, Paul Schrader, Werner Herzog, George Miller, Doug Liman, Alex Proyas, and Roger Avary.

It should also be mentioned that Liman shot his next film entirely on AI-generated stages. As for Mann, he’s teased using AI for de-aging purposes on his upcoming “Heat 2,” which might be the same technology George Miller used on “Furiosa.”