Oscars draw firm line against AI actors and writers with new eligibility rules for 2027

AI actors and writers will be ineligible for Oscars

LOS ANGELES, May 1 (Reuters) - Academy Awards organizers issued new rules on Friday to clarify that acting and writing must be performed by humans and not artificial intelligence to be eligible for the movie industry's highest honors. The changes from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ⁠apply to submissions for the next Oscars ceremony, scheduled for March 2027. Generative AI has raised alarm in the movie and TV business as workers fear studios will use the technology to replace human workers to lower costs. The debut last year of an AI-generated "actress" dubbed Tilly Norwood, ⁠and its producer's boasts of interest from studio executives, added to concerns and sparked a backlash from the SAG-AFTRA actors union. Under the Academy's new ⁠rules, filmmakers can use AI tools but a "synthetic" actor such as Norwood would be ineligible for an ⁠Oscar, the group said in a statement. It said screenplays must be "human-authored" to be ⁠considered. The rules state the Academy can request additional information to verify submissions were created by humans. Reporting by Lisa Richwine Editing by Rod Nickel Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

AI performances and screenplays won't be eligible for Oscars - Engadget

Sorry, Val Kilmer fans, but the late actor's Oscar ship has officially sailed. On Friday, Reuters reported that AI-generated acting and writing won't be eligible for Academy Awards. The new rules from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will take effect beginning with next year's presentation, scheduled for March 2027. The Academy's updated rules state that while filmmakers can use AI tools, "synthetic" performers can't win any awards. Ditto for AI-written screenplays, which must be "human-authored." The Academy can request more information from submissions to confirm that they were created by humans. A "performance" that won't need further clarification is Kilmer's fully AI-generated appearance in the upcoming indie film, As Deep as the Grave. The actor was initially cast in the movie but had to back out due to medical concerns. (He died in April 2025.) Although Kilmer never stepped foot on set, he will appear in "a significant part" of the movie, according to Variety. "His family kept saying how important they thought the movie was and that Val really wanted to be a part of this," said Coerte Voorhees, the film's writer and director. "He really thought it was [an] important story that he wanted his name on. It was that support that gave me the confidence to say, okay let's do this. Despite the fact some people might call it controversial, this is what Val wanted." Perhaps even more jarring than the AI-generated likeness of a dead actor is the work of a ByteDance tool that has also raised some alarm in the industry. A two-sentence prompt using Seedance 2.0 was all it took to generate a highly convincing 15-second clip of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt duking it out on a rooftop. (C'mon, Pitt would totally kick his ass.) The cinematic clip went viral, Hollywood experienced existential panic, and Washington even weighed in. The latest? ByteDance reportedly paused the tool's rollout while the entertainment industry braces for a future where typing a few words could be all it takes to churn out a feature film.

The Oscars bans generative AI in acting and writing categories

Only roles "demonstrably performed by humans with their consent" will be eligible for awards. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences -- probably better known to the world as the Oscars folks -- have drawn a firm line in the sand against the use of generative AI, changing its eligibility rules to exclude AI-generated performances and scripts. The new rules, via The Wrap, state that in acting categories, only roles "demonstrably performed by humans with their consent" will be considered eligible for consideration, while in the writing categories, only "human-authored" screenplays will be eligible. It doesn't represent a wholesale ban on gen AI in the filmmaking process, which wouldn't be realistic anyway: The rules state that the use of gen AI "and other digital tools" in other categories won't have any impact on the chances of a film's nomination for an award, although the Academy will "[take] into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award." If questions about the use of gen AI should come up, "the Academy reserves the right to request more information about the nature of the use and human authorship." That's a necessary flexibility because, just as with game development, technology evolves, tools improve, and the use of gen AI for, say, early storyboarding probably shouldn't be cause for a film's exclusion for award consideration. And even making those allowances, the new rules represent a fairly strong repudiation of the stupid, exploitative future we are building for ourselves. Is it likely that an AI-generated screenplay will be worthy of an Oscar someday? I will say no. But the creation of AI 'actors' like the wretched Tilly Norwood thing, not to mention the money-grubbing obscenity of dragging actual actors out of the afterlife, opens the door to scenarios like the AI avatar of George C. Scott going berserk and actually accepting the Best Actor award for Patton 2: Hormuz Boogaloo. Like so many things once considered unthinkable that barely raise an eyebrow today, that might sound really dumb right now, but in a few years? The Academy will probably be thankful that it got out in front of the whole thing when it did.

AI actors and writers not eligible for Oscars: Academy

Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) - Actors created with artificial intelligence will not be eligible for an Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Friday as it launched a crackdown on the use of AI. New rules include a requirement that only real, live human performers -- not their AI avatars -- are eligible for the film world's biggest prizes, and screenplays must have been penned by a person, rather than a chatbot. "In the Acting category, only roles credited in the film's legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible," the Academy said. "In the Writing categories, the rules codify that screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible." The ruling comes days after an AI version of the late Val Kilmer was unveiled to an audience of cinema owners, a year after the "Top Gun" star's death.

Oscars Organization Expands International Film Eligibility, Addresses AI in New Rules

The organization behind the Oscars is for the first time addressing the eligibility of films that use artificial intelligence in new rules for the 2027 Academy Awards. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday released updates across many categories, stressing the importance of human authorship while not banning AI. The new rules also include significant changes to the much-criticized international film category, expanding eligibility to include films that won top qualifying awards from prestigious film festivals like Cannes, Venice and Toronto. "As we do every year, we made a lot of, we think, really smart and progressive changes," film academy CEO Bill Kramer told The Associated Press. "Obviously, as the academy becomes more global, we need to think about how we are inviting international films into the Oscars conversation." AI and the Oscars As part of its annual review of Oscar eligibility rules, the academy is tackling one of the global filmmaking community's biggest concerns: generative artificial intelligence. The new rules state that "the tools neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination" and that the academy and each branch "will judge the achievement, taking into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award." They're also reserving the right to request more information from the filmmaking team about the nature of the use of AI and "human authorship." "Humans have to be at the center of the creative process," said academy president Lynette Howell Taylor. "As AI continues to evolve, our conversations around AI will do so along with that. But for the academy, we are always going to put human authorship at the center of our awards eligibility process." When it comes to the eligibility of performances, only roles "demonstrably performed by humans with their consent" will be considered. The organization declined to comment on whether the upcoming AI-rendered Val Kilmer performance would be eligible as the filmmakers have not yet submitted it for consideration. A likeness is not an actor, for one, but it might also depend on how Kilmer is credited in the film: As Val Kilmer or something else? One could also take Andy Serkis as Gollum as an example of a human collaborating with technology for the final performance. "We will review that on a case-by-case basis," Kramer said. "We, like everybody in our industry and world, we will be assessing this every year." There is less ambiguity in the screenplay categories, where the rules state that "screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible." The film academy has often had to review its standards to meet the technological advances of the moment, whether it be sound, color or computer generated imagery (CGI). Sweeping changes to international film eligibility As its membership has grown much more international, there have been increasing calls for an overhaul to the international film category, which had been continually criticized as unjust, outdated and subject to political interference. That's led to independent and dissident filmmakers often pointedly not being submitted to represent the country they're from. Last year's Palme d'Or-winner at Cannes, for instance, was "It Was Just an Accident," from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, was not submitted as Iran's official entry for the 98th Academy Awards, but France's. Under the new rules, "It Was Just an Accident" could be considered eligible because it won the top Cannes prize and not because a country chose to submit it. In addition to the Palme d'Or at Cannes, the Golden Lion at Venice and the Platform award at Toronto, other festivals with eligible qualifying awards will also include the Berlin International Film Festival's Golden Bear, the Busan International Film Festival's best film award and the Sundance Film Festival's World Cinema Grand Jury Prize. All the international films will also be credited as the nominee, not the country or region, and the award will be accepted by the filmmaker. The director's name will also be listed on the Oscar plaque, "after the film title and country if applicable." "That really reflects our desire to honor the film's creative team. That is how we approach other categories," Kramer said. "And as we become more global, as the filmmaking community becomes more global. I think it's really about a focus on the filmmakers and less a focus of the country." Actors can now be nominated for more than one award in a category The acting branch is catching up with the rest of the academy in allowing an actor to be nominated for more than one performance in a single category. If, say, this year's best actor winner Michael B. Jordan has two extraordinary leading performances in two different films in 2026, he could possibly get two best actor nominations. This is standard practice in the other categories. In 2001, at the 73rd Oscars, Steven Soderbergh was nominated for best director for both "Traffic" and "Erin Brockovich," winning the prize for the former. And about those original songs in the end credits The organization also clarified the eligibility of original songs used during a film's end credits. For songs in which the first music cue plays over the end credits, that song must overlap with at least the film's last 15 seconds before the credits roll in order to be considered eligible. This year's original song winner, "Golden" was a key part of "KPop Demon Hunters" and used several times throughout the film. "We never stop looking at ways to improve our eligibility process," Taylor said.

New Oscars rules ban Generative AI from ever being eligible for an Academy Award

Sorry, Tilly Norwood, no Oscar for you! The Academy has changed its rules for the upcoming 99th ceremony and beyond, banning AI-generated actors and screenplays from being eligible to win any gold. The news comes straight from the official Oscars rules page, which was updated as of May 1 to reflect a series of new changes. One of the items in the Special Rules for Acting Awards category states that "only roles credited in the film's legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible." Under Special Rules for Writing Awards, it now says that, "In order to be eligible in either Writing category, an explicit screenwriting credit must be present in the film's legal billing and the screenplay must be human-authored." Page 4 of the rulebook does include that some uses of AI are acceptable regarding "digital tools used in the making of the film," as the tools "neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination." Moreover, the Academy will "take into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship," and reserves the right to request more information about the nature of the use of Generative AI and human authorship. You might recall that Gladiator 2 allegedly (and unconsensually) used the likeness of various extras to generate an entire stadium of people... rather than just fill it with real people. You also might recall last year's introduction to Tilly Norwood, an entirely AI-generated actor created by Xicoia, the world's "first artificial intelligence talent studio," who made the headlines after reports claimed that several big-name talent agencies were interested in representing it... her. Whatever. While we've definitely seen controversy around AI-generated novels being released by Big 5 publishers, we've yet to see a big brouhaha about an AI-generated screenplay... but I'm sure it's coming. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2026 and beyond.

Oscars to Screenwriters: You Gotta Be Human

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has addressed the way it evaluates the role of artificial intelligence in movies that could qualify for Oscars. Starting with the 2027 ceremony, Oscar's 99th, the Academy is reserving the right to inquire about the extent to which AI was used in a movie, as well as how it was used. According to Variety, to compete in either writing category (original or adapted screenplays), a script must have been written entirely by one or more humans who were living and breathing at the time they wrote it (read: no AI). Moreover, the Academy reserved the right to change its rules, as the ways people use AI change, but it underscored that it would remain committed to honoring the work of human beings. AI has come under greater scrutiny recently with the release of As Deep as the Grave, a movie that uses generative AI to bring the late Val Kilmer back to the silver screen. The actor's daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, has said she's OK with the practice. "I started off as a way to overcome the limitations of his illness, but then it evolved into something that he really was like, 'Oh, wait. I have a chance to actually set a precedent," she told The Today Show. "It's kind of fallen into two camps. People that maybe have a more precarious position in the industry and are worried and see AI as a threat -- which is absolutely valid -- and younger people, younger actors and musicians. I'm a musician and a lot of people that I know are so scared of this technology." The Academy has also updated its rules for other categories. Actors may now receive more than one nomination in the same category, ostensibly competing against themselves. So now an actor like Josh O'Connor, who appeared in four movies last year, could lock out every slot of the Best Actor category but one (if his acting were good enough.) Similarly, films from the same country may now compete against one another in the international feature category. Anatomy of a Fall, in 2023, wasn't able to compete for France despite nominations in other categories, including Best Picture. (France opted instead to submit The Taste of Things for Oscar consideration; it was not nominated.) The Academy also updated its rules for the casting and hairstyle and makeup categories. It also added regulations for how productions can campaign to win.