Academy Bans AI Actors and Writers From Oscar Eligibility in Historic Rule Overhaul

Academy Awards organisers issued new rules on Friday to clarify that acting and writing must be performed by humans and not artificial intelligence to be eligible for Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences launched what it describes as a formal crackdown on AI use across its eligibility categories, covering both performance and screenplay credits.

What the New Rules Say

The updated rules cover two core areas:

Acting:

• Only real, live human performers and not their AI avatars are eligible for consideration
• Only roles credited in the film's legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will qualify
• AI-generated or AI-replicated performances, including digital recreations of deceased actors, are explicitly excluded

Writing:

• Screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible in any writing category
• Scripts written by or substantially produced with a chatbot or AI tool will not qualify

"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," the Academy said. "In the Writing categories, the rules codify that screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible."

The Academy also said it has the right to request more information about a film's AI usage and "human authorship" as part of its review process.

Iranian director Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident was nominated earlier this year as a submission from France under the old rules. The new festival qualification route now offers a formal independent path that bypasses national gatekeepers.

The Val Kilmer Case That Preceded the Rules

The announcement came days after an AI-generated version of the late Val Kilmer was unveiled to an audience of cinema owners, a year after the Top Gun star's death. A youthful digital version of Kilmer appeared in the trailer for the archeological action film As Deep as the Grave, telling another character: "Don't fear the dead and don't fear me."

The project was created with the enthusiastic support of the actor's family, who granted access to Kilmer's video archives, which were used to recreate the actor at multiple stages of his life.

The Kilmer recreation illustrated precisely the scenario the new rules are designed to address, raising unresolved questions about consent, authenticity, and creative credit for posthumous AI-generated performances.

The Broader AI and Hollywood Standoff

The use of artificial intelligence remains one of the most sensitive issues in the entertainment industry. It was central to the 2023 strikes that shut down Hollywood, as actors and writers warned that unchecked technology threatened their livelihoods. These rule changes come amid a wave of AI-related developments across the industry:

• An independent film is in the works featuring an AI-generated version of Val Kilmer
• AI actress Tilly Norwood keeps making headlines, most recently for releasing a widely criticized song
• New video models are causing filmmakers to make sweeping declarations of concern
• At least one novel has been pulled by its publisher due to apparent AI use
• Science fiction writers and Comic-Con organizers have declared AI usage makes work ineligible for awards

What the Academy Has and Has Not Addressed

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