Academy Restricts AI Writing and Acting in Oscar Eligibility
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has updated its rules to require that Oscar nominees for acting and writing be human-created work. The change, announced May 5, takes effect immediately.
Under the new guidelines, acting must be "demonstrably performed by humans" and writing must be "human-authored" to qualify for nomination. The Academy called this a "substantive" change to its eligibility standards.
The move responds to recent cases where filmmakers have used generative AI and LLM tools to replace or recreate human performance and writing work.
AI Tools Permitted in Other Areas
The Academy did not ban AI use in filmmaking broadly. Outside of acting and writing, use of AI tools "neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination," the Academy said.
For other crafts-cinematography, editing, visual effects, and others-the Academy will evaluate the work based on the degree to which humans directed the creative choices. If questions arise about how AI was used, the Academy reserves the right to request details about the work and human authorship involved.
What This Means for Writers
For screenwriters and other writers in film, the ruling is direct: AI-generated or AI-assisted writing cannot be submitted as original work for consideration. Writers must be able to demonstrate human authorship of scripts and other written material.
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