Oscars Revise Eligibility Rules, Ban AI Actors and Scripts From Winning Awards

The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are tightening the rules for artificial intelligence (AI). New rules, released on Friday, specifically highlight that AI actors or screenplays written using an AI tool will not be eligible to be nominated or win the award starting next year. Additionally, the organisation behind the Oscars can also request more information from filmmakers about the usage of the technology and human authorship. The development comes as AI actors such as Tilly Norwood have gained popularity in the mainstream.

Oscars Say No to AI

In a press release, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the revised rules for the next year's Oscars, which will also be the 99th Academy Awards. While the new rules bring several changes to the qualification, nomination, and evaluation of the winners, the organisation also made specific inclusions to keep AI from winning awards in acting or writing categories.

The revised rules mention that 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.” This means not only that AI-generated characters are barred from being nominated for the awards, but also that nominated actors will need to have credits in the film's legal billing. This effectively bars AI actors such as Tilly Norwood and the AI double of Van Kilmer, which is set to make a posthumous appearance in “As Deep as the Grave.”

Similarly, the new rules also codify that screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible for nomination across categories. Notably, this was also one of the sticking points during the five-month strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in 2023. At the time, Hollywood Studios had agreed not to use AI to write or rewrite scripts, nor to use AI-generated writing as source material.

Further, the organisation has also added a new rule regarding generative AI, stating “the Academy reserves the right to request more information about the nature of the use and human authorship.” This will now allow the organisation to ask filmmakers to share the extent and nature of how AI was used in a film, and to prove the authenticity of human authorship.