AI Is Permanently Banned From Major Oscar Categories
It may be here to stay, but AI won’t get much airtime at the Academy Awards.
Hollywood’s biggest stars, alongside its most powerful studios, are leaning hard on the idea that AI integration is inevitable. Actors like Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock claim we’re all but powerless to embrace this new tech; given that directors like Steven Soderbergh and Darren Aronofsky have already folded generative AI into their filmmaking, it may seem like they’re right. Still, those concerned about literally anything else (like AI’s detrimental effect on the environment, for one, or our own cognitive awareness) aren’t quite ready to let tech outright replace the humans who’ve been making film for the past century. There is a utility to some forms of artificial intelligence, at least in tech-heavy fields like visual effects. But there are some places that AI should never be allowed — especially if the user ever wants to win an Oscar.
Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences readjusted its guidelines and regulations for a handful of categories. Among promising updates for international features, which will now be awarded to directors instead of the country sponsoring the films, the Academy has permanently banned any AI-generated performance from being Oscar-eligible. Only acting roles “credited in the film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent” can be considered for awards like Best Actor or Best Supporting Actress. Sorry Tilly Norwood!
Deepfake performances have come a long way, but they’ll never be Oscar-eligible.
The Academy’s genAI crackdown also feels like a direct response to the controversy surrounding As Deep as the Grave. The upcoming indie film features an AI-generated recreation of the late Val Kilmer. The actor was cast in the film in 2021, but was unable to shoot any of his scenes due to his battle with throat cancer. He passed in 2025, but his likeness was resurrected by state-of-the-art tech in cooperation with Kilmer’s estate. “This is what Val wanted,” director Coerte Voorhees recently told Variety. Whether that’s true or not, the film could be entirely barred from any Oscars campaign.
And that’s not the only category that genAI has been banned from: moving forward, only “human-authored” scripts are eligible for screenplay awards at the Oscars. The Academy reserves the right to request more context about the creation of a script and the role AI had in creating it, so there may be some wiggle room in this category. What’s more, there aren’t yet any rules barring genAI within categories like visual effects or sound — and likely for good reason.
The use of tech is much murkier in these fields, and the Academy might have to work to get its language right. Still, it’s a relief to know that the most vulnerable filmmaking fields are gaining some form of protection against exploitation. Those hellbent on integrating AI into their productions can’t be stopped outright, but the Academy’s new regulations ensure that there’s no reward for cheating actors or writers.
