The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organisers of the Oscars, has officially revised its eligibility criteria regarding artificial intelligence (AI). Starting in 2027, performances created by AI and AI-written screenplays will no longer be eligible for major awards. This significant change underscores the importance of human creativity in the film industry, ensuring that Oscar recognition remains focused on human contributions.
Under the new guidelines, only performances visibly executed by humans with appropriate consent will be considered for acting nominations. Any submitted screenplays must be ‘human-authored’ to qualify in their respective writing categories. This policy effectively prohibits AI-generated performances and AI-crafted scripts from receiving Oscars, while allowing limited use of AI tools in the filmmaking process.
The Academy has clarified that filmmakers can incorporate AI technologies in various production stages, such as visual effects and editing assistance, provided that a genuine human touch remains integral to the project submitted for awards.
The Academy reserves the right to request comprehensive details from film studios about their use of AI, particularly regarding eligibility for acting and writing, and to scrutinise the extent of human involvement in creative decisions.
This announcement comes amid growing concerns in Hollywood regarding AI’s influence on creative professions. The industry faces challenges from generative AI’s ability to draft scripts, mimic voices, and replicate actors’ digital likenesses. Concerns escalated during the 2023 actors’ and writers’ strikes when unions sought safeguards against studios using AI as a substitute for human creators. Demonstrations featuring AI-generated actors and digitally reconstructed performances have sparked discussions around consent, ownership, and artistic integrity, with a call for clearer distinctions between human and machine-generated performances.
In 2025, actors expressed dissatisfaction with the creation of AI-generated “actress” Tilly Norwood. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists stated that Norwood “is not an actor, but a character created by a computer program trained on the works of numerous professional performers.” This sentiment was supported by high-profile stars like Emily Blunt, Natasha Lyonne, and Whoopi Goldberg.
In April 2025, audiences witnessed an AI-generated portrayal of the late actor Val Kilmer in the trailer for the indie film “As Deep as the Grave.” Kilmer, who passed away in April 2025 due to throat cancer, had been unable to film his scenes, leading the film’s director to recreate his performance with support from Kilmer’s daughter.
The updated rules aim to protect authorship and uphold the integrity of artistic recognition in cinema. In the future, acting awards will require clear verification that a real human performed the role with explicit consent and creative oversight. Similarly, screenplay categories will now mandate human authorship, reinforcing the notion that storytelling is a uniquely human endeavour.
While these regulations restrict AI’s influence in award recognition, they do not ban it from filmmaking. This shift raises questions about whether AI should be viewed merely as a production tool or as a potential creative entity, marking a defining moment for AI’s future in film.
