The Oscar Must Go to a Human for Performances and Writing, Says Academy

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has issued fresh guidance on who or what can win an Oscar, stressing that human creativity must be front and center if a performance or writing is to win one of the coveted awards.

For acting roles, the performance must be “demonstrably performed by humans,” while Oscars handed out for writing are a little stricter and “must be human-authored.”

However, when it comes to AI being used in post-production for special effects, the Academy says the use of such tools will “neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination,” and it will “judge the achievement, taking into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award.” The Associated Press notes that the Academy is also reserving the right to ask filmmakers for additional information about how they deploy AI and “human authorship.”

“Humans have to be at the center of the creative process,” Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor tells AP. “As AI continues to evolve, our conversations around AI will do so along with that. But for the Academy, we are always going to put human authorship at the center of our awards eligibility process.”

Muddying the Waters

As AI tools have improved, filmmakers have been able to do previously unthinkable things, like allowing Val Kilmer to appear in a movie after the actor’s death.

The Academy did not comment on whether Kilmer would be eligible for an Oscar when he appears in the upcoming independent film, As Deep as the Grave. Instead, it said it will review on a case-by-case basis. “We, like everybody in our industry and world, will be assessing this every year,” adds Academy CEO Bill Kramer.

Hollywood has already seen dead actors brought back to life, like late Alien actor Ian Holm, who appeared in 2024’s Alien: Romulus thanks to AI technology.

That the Academy will only hand out Oscars for acting parts and writing that are human-generated only seems right. But clearly, it is more relaxed about the use of AI for special effects. When the editor of The Brutalist admitted to using AI to perfect Adrian Brody’s Hungarian dialect, it was widely believed that it derailed the film’s chances of winning Best Picture (although Brody still won Best Actor that year).

Since then, Hollywood has kept schtum about AI use in productions, which is peculiar given how much the tools have improved. As previously highlighted by PetaPixel, it seems very likely audiences are watching films where AI is being used somehow, perhaps in small and large ways, without realizing it.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.