Martin Scorsese
Director
One of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, and a lifelong champion of film preservation. In 2026 he became an advisor to Black Forest Labs and spoke openly about using AI-generated storyboards in pre-production — framing AI as another tool for communicating a director’s vision, not a replacement for artists.
In their words
Remember, cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve.
I recently tested this out on a scene and the ability to visualize and immediately share the storyboard was creatively freeing.
Biography
Martin Scorsese (born 1942) is an American filmmaker widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential directors in the history of cinema. A defining figure of the New Hollywood era, he is known for visceral, morally searching films and a restless visual style — Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and The Departed, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director. Few artists have done more to preserve film history, and few carry more authority when they speak about where the medium is headed.
That is what made his 2026 turn toward AI so notable. Scorsese became an advisor to Black Forest Labs, the company behind the FLUX image models, and described using AI-generated storyboards during pre-production. He was careful to frame the technology as an instrument in the director’s hands — a faster way to visualize and share a shot — rather than a substitute for the people who make films.
During the pre-production process, time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craft.
Coming from cinema’s most prominent traditionalist — a director synonymous with celluloid and the theatrical experience — the endorsement reframed the debate. If the medium’s foremost preservationist sees AI as part of how film evolves, the question shifts from whether the tools belong in filmmaking to how thoughtfully they are used.
Where they stand in the war
The opposition
Guillermo del Toro
Filmmaker
Oscar-winning director of Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, and Pinocchio, and one of cinema’s most beloved champions of handcrafted, human-made art. In 2025 he became one of Hollywood’s most quotable opponents of generative AI, saying he would “rather die” than use it.
Kane Parsons
Director
Self-taught filmmaker who created the viral “Backrooms” horror series on YouTube as a teenager and is now directing its feature adaptation. A VFX prodigy, he is sharply critical of generative AI — saying he gets no creative enjoyment from it and would make it “disappear forever” if he could.
Tim Burton
Director
The gothic-whimsical auteur behind Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Batman. After seeing AI-generated versions of his own Disney character designs, he described the experience as something “sucking” from his soul — likening generative AI to a robot taking your humanity.
Dana Terrace
Animator
Peabody Award-winning animator and creator of Disney Channel’s The Owl House who became one of animation’s most outspoken opponents of generative AI. In 2025 she urged fans to cancel Disney+ and pirate her own show in protest of the studio’s embrace of AI-generated content.
The Indie Game Awards
Awards Ceremony
An annual indie-focused awards show produced by the team behind Six One Indie. It enforces a blanket ban on generative AI — a policy that, at its December 2025 ceremony, led it to strip Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 of its Game of the Year win hours after handing it out.
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/martin-scorsese