Martin Scorsese, unlikely voice, joins Hollywood AI debate
▼ Summary
– Martin Scorsese has become a partner and adviser to AI startup Black Forest Labs, using its image-generation technology solely for storyboarding.
– Scorsese stated the AI tool helps him communicate his vision to cinematographers and production designers faster and more efficiently.
– Black Forest Labs is a 70-person company based in Freiburg, Germany, valued at $3.25 billion, and powers image features in Adobe, Canva, Microsoft, and Meta.
– The startup was founded by the team behind Stable Diffusion and declined a partnership with Elon Musk’s xAI after concerns over content safeguards on Grok.
– Scorsese’s involvement signals a softening of Hollywood’s resistance to AI, despite potential industry concerns.
Martin Scorsese, one of cinema’s most revered auteurs, has quietly stepped into the artificial intelligence debate,not as a critic, but as an unlikely collaborator. The legendary director has signed on as a partner and adviser to Black Forest Labs, an AI image-generation startup, according to a report from The New York Times on Tuesday.
The key distinction: Scorsese is using the technology exclusively for storyboarding. “For 70 years, I’ve been creating my own storyboards,” he told the Times. The AI tool, he explained, allows him to convey his creative vision to cinematographers and production designers with far greater speed and efficiency than traditional methods.
Black Forest Labs is a relatively small operation, with just 70 employees, and its headquarters are not in Silicon Valley but in Freiburg, Germany,the nearest major city to the actual Black Forest. Despite its offbeat location, the startup powers image-generation features inside major platforms like Adobe, Canva, Microsoft, and Meta. The company was last valued at $3.25 billion by investors, a group that includes BroadLight Capital, co-founded by Scorsese’s longtime talent manager, Rick Yorn.
The startup was founded by the team behind Stable Diffusion, a pioneering image-generation model. According to Wired, Black Forest Labs recently declined a partnership with Elon Musk’s xAI after an earlier collaboration on Grok’s image generator ended over concerns about the platform’s content safeguards.
Some in the entertainment industry may view this development with unease, even given its narrow application. But it marks yet another sign that Hollywood’s once-fierce resistance to AI is beginning to soften, as even its most storied figures find practical value in the technology.
(Source: TechCrunch)
