One of the country’s leading arts academies wants artificial intelligence to be a key part of its offering.
NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts has struck a deal with Runway AI that will make AI credits and training available for free to students across a number of programs, including the Hyper Cinema Lab, a university-wide initiative run by the film school. The technology-oriented arts programs ITP and ITM will also be part of this arrangement.
“Our film programs were never intended to teach students how to become professional cake makers,” said Ruben Polendo, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts, in an interview. “Our film programs teach many ways of making films and invite students to weave their own process,” added Polendo, who is a 2025 Guggenheim Artificial Intelligence and Performance Fellow. “This is an invitation to try another way of working.”
Runway has licensing deals with a number of schools, including USC, but this formalizes the relationship in a deeper way, with training, free credits, and other incentives for using the tool.
“Twenty years ago, when you went to film school or art school, the thing they gave you was a camera and maybe an Adobe subscription,” said Cristóbal Valenzuela, CEO and co-founder of Runway and an ITP alumnus. Hollywood Reporter. “Now they give you access to Runway, which allows you to do almost anything you want. For new generations, this is the new normal.”
Video production credits, which can be expensive, will be made available on a generous if not unlimited basis, ensuring that more student films are likely to be produced using some AI component, Valenzuela and Polendo said. Registrants will be encouraged to shoot in analog if that suits them — student photography in and around Washington Square Park in midtown Manhattan is an integral part of downtown landscapes like the Waverly Inn and Astor Place Cube — but they will be given tools that make creating models within the model more engaging.
Part of the initiative’s goal, Bolendo says, is to define the line between human-driven and machine-assisted art in real time. “What we’re asking is what is the bridge that we can build at this really innovative interface between film and visuals and big language models and navigating the ethics of generating original content,” he said.
ITP and ITM (official names: Interactive Communications Program and Interactive Media Arts) are two graduate-level programs known for their innovative and sometimes bizarre explorations into the relationship between technology, art, and media. The Hypercinema Lab runs between these two programs and the Film School. The main film school — the home of Spike Lee, Todd Solondz and Cassie Lemmons — is not part of the agreement at this time.
Moves like this could expand the already vast battlefield between AI and art into schools, where supporters see the technology as a way to realize the visions of people working without a budget — physical photography is expensive, after all — while opponents worry that it will discourage knowledge and dissemination of traditional techniques.
The move also represents a continuation of Runway’s efforts to attract both Hollywood studios (the company has a deal with Lionsgate and informal relationships with several others) and Madison Avenue on the one hand, and the younger generation it will one day work with on the other. Asked if he was finding more resistance from studios or academia, Valenzuela said he didn’t see much in either place.
“The acceptance of this type of model within studios, schools and companies is already high. There may be a very small minority [objecting]but I don’t think they in any way shape the discourse anymore. These are extremely useful and valuable tools for creatives, filmmakers and talent, and it’s hard to say otherwise. I mean the results are there. You can just see people having fun and being more productive.”
He added: “I mean, look, there are people who are resistant to flying on airplanes because they have their own ideas about them. But the virtual population is already on board and in favor of flying on airplanes. I would say the same thing about artificial intelligence.”
AI is certainly becoming a bigger part of advanced arts programs, with schools like SCAD and RISD offering classes on the topic, though not always without controversy.
Polendo says he realizes that some organizations may be resistant to making AI tools available, but that’s not the policy at Tech.
“We welcome the future,” he added. “That’s the whole proposal here.”
