"I Love Boosters" and "Sorry to Bother You" director Boots Riley commented on Martin Scorsese's support for artificial intelligence this week, writing on social media Wednesday that the Oscar winner "couldn't care less.".
On Tuesday, 83-year-old Scorsese shocked many by announcing he had become an advisor to Black Forest Labs, an artificial intelligence startup specializing in image generation. In addition to publicly endorsing the company, Scorsese appeared in a video released by Black Forest on Tuesday. In it, Scorsese described a shot he wanted to pre-visualize, which was then fed into Black Forest's generative AI software, FLUX, which then generated images matching his descriptions.
«"My guess is that at 83, his family was given a ton of money (they throw tens of millions around), he wanted that income stream for them, and he thinks 'A.I.' is going to flop anyway, so he doesn't care," Reilly wrote on X about Scorsese's deal with 'A.I.' "If that's not the case, then screw him. Also, go see 'I Love Boosters' tonight.".
«"Yeah, the problem with filmmaking is 'we didn't have the tools to create before,'" Riley added in a subsequent tweet, mocking Scorsese's defense of AI technology. In another tweet, the screenwriter and director further criticized Scorsese for helping legitimize an AI startup.
«"To be clear, my anger isn't about him using it; I'd probably just laugh it off privately. The point is, he's using his authority to promote it and trying to push the industry into it. They need him," Riley explained. "They've spent $1 trillion on generative AI, and it's not saving anyone or changing cinema yet.".
In his comments on Tuesday, Scorsese emphasized the value of using generative AI software like Black Forest Labs to pre-visualize and storyboard shots for his films without sacrificing "quality or craftsmanship.".
«"Cinema is a young art form, only about 125 years old, so we must be open to its continued evolution," Scorsese said in a statement. "I used 3D in 'Hugo' and de-aging technology for 'The Irishman.' Now, thanks to this tool, I can more clearly and effectively communicate my visual ideas to my creative team—the production designer, art director, and cinematographer—so they can further develop their cinematic craft.".
«"I'm thrilled that someone like Martin Scorsese—one of the greatest and most impressive filmmakers of all time—is using our technology and showing interest in exploring it," Robin Rombach, CEO of Black Forest Labs, said in an interview Tuesday. "It's great proof that it works.".
The use of artificial intelligence in filmmaking continues to be a controversial topic in the Hollywood community.
While directors like Guillermo del Toro and Seth Rogen have dismissed the technology outright, others, like Scorsese, champion its use as a new tool for creatives. At this year's Cannes Film Festival, jury member and star of The Essence, Demi Moore, stated that resisting AI is "a battle we're going to lose, so finding ways to work with it, I think, is a more valuable path.".
In September 2024, Avatar director James Cameron joined the board of directors of Stability AI, the developer of the generative AI model for text-to-image conversion, Stable Diffusion. Simultaneously, the release of Cameron's latest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, included a statement assuring viewers that no artificial intelligence was used in the making of the film.
The article "Boots Riley Slams Martin Scorsese for Backing AI Company: 'He Doesn't Care'" first appeared on TheWrap.