Martin Scorsese came under fire Tuesday for his support of AI in the filmmaking process, with the Art Directors Guild releasing a fiery statement against the Oscar-winning filmmaker and denouncing his backing of the new technology as “a betrayal of the collaborative nature of cinema.”
“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 statement began, emphasizing that the technology Scorsese touted as providing “less wear and tear on the crew” relies on copyrighted works from artists like those represented in the guild.
“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. “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.”
Read the missive in full below:
The Art Directors Guild, IATSE Local 800 #adg800 has issued a statement on Martin Scorsese’s recent promotion of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI):
— Art Directors Guild (@ADG800) June 9, 2026
"Mr. Scorsese, The Business is not in flux.
Oscar winning director Martin Scorsese is turning his back on the human artists… pic.twitter.com/7vyqOVGWOZ
Representatives for Scorsese did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Scorsese became the latest filmmaker to give his blessing towards the use of AI in the filmmaking process last week as an adviser to the company Black Forest Labs. He revealed that he is using artificial intelligence to help him with his pre-visualization and storyboarding process.
“Cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve,” Scorsese said in a statement posted to the BFL website. “I utilized 3D with ‘Hugo’ and de-aging technology for ‘The Irishman.’ Now, with this tool, I can share what I’m visualizing more clearly and efficiently to my creative team — the production designer, art designer and cinematographer — for them to build on to enrich cinematic intelligence.”
In a promotional video produced for Black Forest Labs, Scorsese further notes that AI storyboarding and pre-viz can save productions time and money and make it easier for the director to convey his vision to his team, resulting in “less wear and tear on the crew.”
“The idea would be to make a film in your private room, in a way, and you create the picture … and it is finally translated to 50 people on the crew, a 100 people on the crew,” he said. “This conveys a cinematic intelligence.”
According to The New York Times, Scorsese was introduced to the Germany-based Black Forest through the investment firm BroadLight Capital, which was co-founded by the director’s manager, Rick Yorn. While Scorsese has expressed his support for the technology, it is unclear whether he used it in the pre-production process for his next movie, “What Happens at Night,” which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence and is co-produced by Apple and Studiocanal.
