Oscars Ban AI-Generated Actors and Scripts in Major Rule Update
Organisers of the Academy Awards issued new regulations on Friday to explicitly state that acting and writing must be executed by humans rather than artificial intelligence to qualify for the film industry’s most prestigious honours.
The updated guidelines from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will come into effect for the upcoming Oscars ceremony scheduled for March 2027. The move is designed to draw a firm line in the sand regarding the integration of emerging technologies in mainstream filmmaking.
Industry fears and synthetic stars
The rapid rise of generative AI has sparked significant alarm across the television and film sectors. Industry professionals are increasingly concerned that major studios will utilise the technology to replace human workers and drive down production costs.
These widespread fears were exacerbated last year following the introduction of a purely AI-generated «actress» named Tilly Norwood. The digital creator’s claims that studio executives had shown considerable interest in the synthetic performer triggered a fierce and immediate backlash from the SAG-AFTRA actors’ union.
The new regulations explained
Under the newly published framework, filmmakers are still permitted to utilise AI tools during the broader production and post-production processes. However, the organisation made it clear in a statement that a synthetic performer such as Norwood would be strictly ineligible to receive an Oscar.
The Academy also stressed that all submitted screenplays must be entirely «human-authored» to be considered for a writing award. Furthermore, the official rules note that the Academy reserves the right to request supplementary information from studios to thoroughly verify that submissions were genuinely created by human hands.
