Tired of AI? Well, the Academy might be as well with the new rules they are setting. But are they doing it to appease those who are against AI? Or are they doing it to protect the art made by man?
There have been several changes to the rules ahead of the 99th Oscars awards. One of the other decisions included the possibility for a single actor to receive multiple nominations in the same category and for a single country to have more than one nomination for Best International Feature Film.
An update to the Oscars’ Special Rules for Acting Awards states that “only roles credited in the film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible.” Meanwhile, the Special Rules for Writing Awards now state that “an explicit screenwriting credit must be present in the film’s legal billing and the screenplay must be human-authored.”
Now the ‘AI ban’ only applies to entirely AI-generated content in the acting and screenplay categories. This falls far short of a complete ban on generative AI, since studios will still permit its use in VFX. Based on the listed rules, it seems that generative AI would not make an ineligible for categories such as Best Song or Best Animated Feature.
It goes on to state that the Academy will “take into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship,” reserving the right to request more information about the nature of the use of Generative AI and human authorship.
One X user says, “Half these changes are stupid.” Others question how the Academy will determine whether AI wrote a script. The majority agree with the new rule changes and support the decision to protect human-made art.
In the end, the Academy’s somewhat flexible approach might be sensible. The potential uses of Generative AI in filmmaking are so broad that banning it completely would be limiting and impractical. Respeecher’s AI technology was used to refine Adrien Brody’s Hungarian accent and pronunciation in The Brutalist, for which he won Best Actor in 2025 as reported by Northeastern Global News.
Hollywood already applies AI widely to create movie effects. Including to de-age actors such as Tom Hanks in Here reported by Wired. Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, reported by Wired. Studios also use AI for outpainting, upscaling, creating backgrounds, and optimizing visual effects. As studios embed AI into production pipelines, the industry must address how to credit these tools.
Perhaps the real test lies not in AI winning an Oscar but in audiences accepting a movie with obviously distracting generative AI.
The Oscars aren’t wrong to want to protect human artistry. But they’re trying to draw a line in the sand during a storm.
AI clearly isn’t going away. It’s only developing more each day. It is up to us to steer away from the work AI takes “inspiration” from. Yes, it has its uses, but the way it is progressing, many people become invested in it. AI is very powerful with deepfakes, especially. It can be overwhelming and scary. But the Academy is hopefully doing this because they understand the seriousness of this as well.
