The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday introduced new rules for the awards, saying actors created by artificial intelligence will not be eligible for Oscars.
The governing body of the Oscar awards clarified that acting performances and scripts must be created by humans, while allowing the use of artificial intelligence tools.
The new rules mainly concern:
- AI created actors
- Screenplays written using AI
- international film category
- Multiple nominations for actors in the same category
Actors created using AI
According to the Academy, under the updated guidelines, only “roles performed by humans with their consent” will be eligible for acting awards, effectively excluding AI-generated performers.
The new rules will exclude Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated “actress” who debuted last year.
The decision comes a year after Val Kilmer’s death and the unveiling of an AI-generated version of him. A digital, young Kilmer appeared in the trailer for “As Deep as the Grave”, which was created using archival footage in collaboration with his family.
Screenplays written using AI
According to the Academy, scripts must be entirely human-written to be eligible.
The board said that AI tools will “neither help nor harm” a film’s prospects, but stressed that human creative authorship should remain central.
The move comes amid growing industry concern over generative AI, which was a major issue during the 2023 Hollywood labor strike.
The academy said it may request additional information from filmmakers to verify whether the submissions were made by humans.
international film category
Announcing significant changes to the international feature category, the Academy said films can now qualify not only through national presentations but also by winning the top prize at major festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Busan, Venice or Toronto.
Until this year, only films selected by official national bodies could be presented, which was a problem for important works of authoritarian states.
The Academy announced that from now on and as per the new rule, the film will be considered as a nominee and not its country. The film’s director will be “listed on a plaque” with the country, if applicable.
Multiple nominations for actors in the same category
In the acting categories, actors will now be eligible for multiple nominations in the same category for different roles.
Previously, an actor could not receive multiple nominations in the same category for roles in different films, although this was allowed for other Oscar categories.
These changes will be applicable to the 99th Academy Awards to be held in March 2027.
Edited by: Rana Taha