Martin Scorsese becomes the latest — and most unlikely — Hollywood voice for AI

Renowned filmmaker Martin Scorsese is stepping into the realm of artificial intelligence by partnering with Black Forest Labs, an innovative AI image-generation startup. According to a report by The New York Times, Scorsese is utilizing this technology specifically for storyboarding, a crucial aspect of his filmmaking process. In a statement, the legendary director, who has spent 70 years creating his own storyboards, emphasized the efficiency that AI brings to his communication with cinematographers and production designers. The use of this tool enables him to convey his artistic vision more quickly and effectively. Black Forest Labs, a company based in Freiburg, Germany, consists of a team of 70 professionals. Interestingly, this startup is not located in the typical tech hub of San Francisco. Despite its unconventional location, Black Forest Labs has made a significant impact in the industry, powering image features for major platforms like Adobe, Canva, Microsoft, and Meta. The company was recently valued at an impressive $3.25 billion, with investments from BroadLight Capital, co-founded by Scorsese’s talent manager, Rick Yorn. The startup was established by the creators of Stable Diffusion and reportedly opted not to collaborate with Elon Musk’s xAI in recent months, following a prior partnership that raised concerns regarding content safety on the Grok image generator. As Scorsese's involvement indicates, the film industry’s longstanding skepticism towards AI technology seems to be diminishing, even if only in specific applications like storyboarding.