Even Martin Scorsese Is Using AI… but Only for Storyboarding

The 83-year-old director is backing and serving as an advisor for an AI upstart called Black Forest Labs and played with AI during preproduction on a new film.

Say it ain’t so Marty! Just when we thought there were a few too many older film icons embracing artificial intelligence, another true icon has joined the AI party, surely much to the disappointment of a whole lot of creators who have an aversion to anything AI.

Martin Scorsese revealed in a video and a statement shared with the New York Times that he had used generative AI tools via an AI start-up called Black Forest Labs, and he’s also serving as a backer and an advisor to the new venture.

The Times reported that Scorsese used the tools during preproduction for a new film, though it wasn’t specified which, and that he joined on as an advisor to Black Forest Labs as long as a year ago.

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

Before you get too panicked that the director of “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull” is toying with AI to the same degree as his buddy Paul Schrader, Scorsese’s statement to the Times stresses that the extent to which he used the tools seems to be almost exclusively to help make storyboards that he can better visualize to his crew. In fact, in the video shared by Black Forest Labs, we never see Scorsese himself prompting anything in the tool, but rather dictating his idea and having someone else write out a few prompts.

“For 70 years, I’ve been creating my own storyboards. There’s always been this problem of how do you communicate what you see in your head to your cast and crew. There are some things you have to see and feel. … 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.”

He added: “I recently tested this out on a scene, and the ability to visualize and immediately share the storyboard was creatively freeing. During the preproduction process, time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craft.”

While it’s unclear which movie Scorsese may have quietly used the tools on, the timeline suggests that it could be on his upcoming “What Happens at Night” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, which recently wrapped production. The snowy first look released by Apple back in March honestly bares some cursory resemblance to the snowy, period, Eastern European setting that the AI prompt manages to generate — which again is just for a storyboard! (Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment for clarity.)

Black Forest Labs was founded in 2024 by Robin Rombach, who is formerly of Stability AI, which itself has the support of James Cameron as a board member. The Times says that Scorsese’s talent manager Rick Yorn fostered the connection and is also an investor in Black Forest via his BroadLight Capital.

“I am super excited about the fact that someone like Martin Scorsese — one of the greatest, most impressive filmmakers to exist — is using our technology and curious about exploring it,” Rombach, the chief executive of Black Forest Labs, told the Times. “It’s such a great proof point that this works.”