The Art Directors Guild has issued a statement following Martin Scorsese’s promotion of an AI company’s image generation software. Earlier in June, Martin Scorsese, knowingly or not, picked a side. In a slickly-produced advertisement for the AI company Black Forest Labs, the veteran filmmaker expressed his enthusiasm for its AI software, Flux, which reformulates other ... Martin Scorsese | Art Directors Guild issues a stern statement about filmmaker’s AI promotion
The Art Directors Guild has issued a statement following Martin Scorsese’s promotion of an AI company’s image generation software.
Earlier in June, Martin Scorsese, knowingly or not, picked a side. In a slickly-produced advertisement for the AI company Black Forest Labs, the veteran filmmaker expressed his enthusiasm for its AI software, Flux, which reformulates other people’s images to create new ones.
“With this tool, I can share what I’m visualising more clearly and efficiently to my creative team,” Scorsese said.
The Art Directors Guild has since issued a statement responding to the use of an AI tool for storyboarding – rather than, you know, hiring an actual artist. It’s fair to say that the Guild – IATSE Local 800 – isn’t a fan of Scorsese’s endorsement.
“Mr. Scorsese, The Business is not in flux,” the statement begins. “Oscar winning director Martin Scorsese is turning his back on the human artists who throughout his career have helped him create his most memorable works.”
The Guild goes on to point out the ethical concerns that continue to surround generative AI tech – namely, that firms are knowingly taking and profiting from artists’ work without knowledge or compensation.
It also points out that cinema is a collaborative medium, and that the more filmmakers rely on AI to do their creative thinking for them, the more original ideas they’re likely to miss out on:
“Mr Scorsese’s promotion of a generative AI product circumvents the input of Art Directors Guild Local 800 art directors, graphic artists, illustrators, production designers, scenic artists, set designers, and other talented Union professionals.
“Generative AI is only capable of producing this type of ‘cinematic intelligence’ by ingesting large swaths of copyrighted work, likely scraped from the internet without consent, credit, compensation, or transparency.“
We’ll have to see whether Scorsese offers any kind of response to all this; the Guild’s statement is the latest sign that the filmmaker’s endorsement of AI isn’t particularly popular.
While some industry figures (Peter Jackson, George Miller) have been unabashed in their excitement about AI, others have had a change of heart when they’ve seen the public reaction.
In May, The Book Of Life director Jorge R Gutiérrez announced his plans to make an AI-generated series called Punky Duck for Amazon MGM. When the announcement triggered an angry backlash, Gutiérrez headed back to social media to say he was backing out again.
“I have decided to drop out of the AI program at Amazon,” he wrote. “I will not be making a Punky Duck series. Actions speak louder than words. My intent was to showcase artists, both new and seasoned, both inside and outside the studios, driving this new tech.
“My sincerest apology to those I upset. I promise to do better moving forward. Thank you for your patience with me. I will try harder.”
Is Martin Scorsese experiencing his own Punky Duck moment? Or will he grit his teeth and retain his advisor role at Black Forest Labs? We’ll bring you more as we hear it.
You can read the Art Directors Guild’s statement in full at Deadline.
