The Art Directors Guild released a statement on social media on Tuesday condemning Martin Scorsese’s recent partnership with AI startup Black Forest Labs. In the statement, the guild accused one of Hollywood’s most celebrated directors of “turning his back on the human artists who throughout his career have helped him create his most memorable works.”
“In the recently released Black Forest Labs video promoting their generative AI product FLUX, Mr. Scorsese asks the question, ‘how do you communicate what you see in your head to your cast and crew?’ He claims the solution is the use of this generative AI program to do the jobs that are rightfully the jurisdiction of Art Directors Guild Local 800 artists and designers – human artists and designers who have been successfully collaborating with directors to visualize their films for decades,” the statement reads. “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.”
Reps for Scorsese did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.
On June 2, Black Forest Labs unveiled Scorsese as its new advisor in an effort to “push the bounds of creativity to create deeper and richer experiences for audiences.” In his own statement, posted on the Black Forest website, Scorsese said cinema “is a young medium” and that filmmakers “have to be open to how it can evolve.”
