The Art Directors Guild has condemned Martin Scorsese for appearing in promotional material for Black Forest Labs' FLUX AI system, accusing him of turning his back on human artists. Scorsese had expressed interest in the intersection of technology and storytelling, but the guild argues that AI circumvents the work of talented professionals in film design.
Scorsese, 83, said he was ‘interested in the intersection of technology and storytelling’ as he appeared in promotional material for the company.
‘Remember, cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve,’ the director added. Now, the Art Directors Guild has released an open letter condemning Scorsese for ‘turning his back on human artists’.
‘Mr. Scorsese, The Business is not in flux,’ the statement began, a nod to Black Forest Labs’ FLUX AI system. He’s been in the film industry since 1962 and called it a ‘young medium’ The guild said: ‘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.
‘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 visualise their films for decades.
’ Generative AI has been a hugely controversial conversation within creative industries like film, music, and television. Earlier this year, the Academy confirmed that movies using generative technology for acting and writing would not be eligible for awards. The Art Directors Guild argued that Scorsese was promoting a product that ‘circumvents’ the work of ‘talented professionals’ across various jobs, including graphic artists, set designers, and illustrators.
‘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,’ the statement continued. This copyright tension has been at the core of artistic pushback against AI, while some actors and directors have insisted the industry must move with the technology rather than rejecting it.
Currently, generative AI software works by remixing and regurgitating work in response to prompts, imitating human creativity using vast catalogues of information. The Guild’s statement concluded: ‘The skills of Art Directors Guild Local 800 artists and designers bring the highest level of value to any film or television production.
‘To think their professional contributions can be mimicked or outshone by generative AI, which is built on work likely stolen from them and many other artists from around the world, is a betrayal of the collaborative nature of cinema. ’Steven Spielberg's controversial Disclosure Day will enrage the conspiracy theoristsScorsese has yet to respond to the backlash, having been criticised by other creatives, including Karla Ortiz, who worked in the art department on films including Avengers Endgame, Black Panther and Doctor Strange.
She wrote on X: ‘He throws every single storyboard artist he’s ever worked with under the bus, as he demolishes their livelihoods with models that are likely trained on those storyboard artists’ same works. To use his legacy and power for this is just so disgusting. ’saying it could ‘save us a lot of legwork’ but should be ‘a tool in a large tool chest’ with no ‘final word on anything creative’.
Meanwhile, Guillermo Del Toro – known for his love of elaborate practical effects – said he’d ‘rather die’ than use AI. Tori BrazierDrive Supercars
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