The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that actors created with artificial intelligence will not be eligible for an Oscar, in a bid to protect human performers and writers. This move comes as the use of AI in the entertainment industry continues to spark debate, with many warning that it threatens the livelihoods of actors and writers.
The new rules, which were announced on Friday, state that only real, live human performers – not their AI avatars – are eligible for the film world’s biggest prizes. Additionally, screenplays must have been penned by a person, rather than a chatbot, in order to be considered for an award. Open-source advocates have long argued that human creativity is essential to the creative process.
Oscars Eligibility Criteria
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. In the Writing categories, the rules codify that screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible. This ruling comes days after an AI version of the late Val Kilmer was unveiled to an audience of cinema owners, a year after the “Top Gun” star’s death.
Impact on the Entertainment Industry
The use of artificial intelligence remains one of the most sensitive issues in the entertainment industry and was central to the 2023 strikes that shut down Hollywood. Other updates to the Academy’s rules include a change in the way that films can be nominated for best international feature. Until this year, only a film selected by an official national grouping could be entered – a problem for any critical movie made in an authoritarian state.
For example, Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident” was nominated earlier this year as a submission from France. Under the new rules, a non-English language film can also be submitted in the category if it wins a qualifying award at a major international film festival, including Cannes, Berlin, Busan, Venice, or Toronto.
- Only human-performed roles are eligible for Oscars
- Screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible
- Non-English language films can be submitted if they win a qualifying award at a major international film festival
The Academy’s decision to rule out AI actors and writers is a significant one, and it will be interesting to see how the entertainment industry responds to this move. As the use of AI continues to evolve, it is likely that we will see more debates about its role in the creative process.
