Runway AI and select NYU Tisch schools are making deals

Wanted by one of the country’s leading art academies AI It becomes a core part of your product offering.

New York UniversityTisch School of the Arts has signed an agreement with Runway AI to provide free AI credits and training to students in a variety of programs, including the Hyper Cinema Lab, a university-wide initiative run at the film school. Technology-focused arts programs ITP and ITM will also be part of the event.

“Our film program is not about teaching students to be cookie-cutter,” Rubén Polendo, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts, said in an interview. “Our film program teaches different methods of filmmaking and invites students to weave their own processes. It’s an invitation to try another mode of work,” added Polendo, who received a 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship in AI and Performance.

Runway has licensing agreements with several schools, including USC, but this formalizes the relationship in a deeper way through training, free credit and other support to use the tool.

“Twenty years ago, when you went to film school or art school, all they gave you was a camera and an Adobe subscription,” said Cristóbal Valenzuela, CEO and co-founder of Runway and ITP alumnus. The Hollywood Reporter. “Now they’re giving you access to Runway where you can do almost anything you want. For a new generation, this is the new standard.”

Valenzuela and Polendo said video creation credits, which can be expensive, will be generously available, if not unlimited, and more student films will likely be produced using AI components. Registrants are still encouraged to shoot analog if that suits them. Student shots in and around Washington Square Park in downtown Manhattan are as much a fixture of the downtown landscape as the Waverly Inn and Astor Place Cube, but they come with tools that make the creation within the model even more appealing.

Polendo says one of the goals of the initiative is to identify the boundaries between human-driven and machine-assisted art in real time. “What we are asking is what kind of bridge can we build in building innovative interfaces between film, video and large-scale language models and exploring the ethics of original content creation,” he said.

ITP and ITM (officially: Interactive Telecommunications Program and Interactive Media Arts) are graduate-level programs known for their innovative and sometimes quirky exploration of the marriage of technology, arts, and media. The Hypercinema Lab operates between the two programs and the Film School. Mainstream Film Schools – location Spike Lee, Todd Solondz, and Kasi Lemmons are not part of the current deal.

A move like this could expand the already widespread battleground between AI and art into schools. Advocates see technology as a way to realize the vision of people working without a budget, while opponents worry that it will undermine knowledge and the implementation of traditional technologies.

The move also continues Runway’s efforts to attract the attention of both Hollywood studios (the company has a deal with Lionsgate and informal relationships with many others) and Madison Avenue, and the younger generation who may one day work for them. When asked if he finds more resistance in studios or academia, Valenzuela said he hasn’t seen much anywhere.

“There is already an acceptance of this type of model within studios, schools and companies. There may be a very small minority (against), but I don’t think it’s shaping the discourse anymore. It’s a very useful and valuable tool for creators, filmmakers and talent, and it’s hard to say otherwise. The results are there. You can see people having fun and working much more productively.”

He added, “What I mean is, there are people who refuse to fly because they have their own ideas. But the base population is already on board with flying. I would say the same for AI.”

AI is certainly becoming a bigger part of advanced arts programs, with schools like SCAD and RISD offering classes on the topic. It is not always without controversy.

Polendo says he understands that some institutions may object to providing AI tools, but that this is not Tisch’s policy.

“We welcome the future,” he said. “This is all that is proposed here.”