The organisation behind the Oscars is, for the first time, addressing the eligibility of films that use artificial intelligence in new rules for the 2027 Academy Awards. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) on Friday (May 1) released updates across many categories, stressing the importance of human authorship while not banning AI.

The new rules also include significant changes to the much-criticised international film category, expanding eligibility to include films that won top qualifying awards from prestigious film festivals like Cannes, Venice and Toronto.

“As we do every year, we made a lot of, we think, really smart and progressive changes,” AMPAS CEO Bill Kramer told The Associated Press. “Obviously, as the Academy becomes more global, we need to think about how we are inviting international films into the Oscars conversation.”

AI AND THE OSCARS

As part of its annual review of Oscar eligibility rules, the Academy is tackling one of the global filmmaking community’s biggest concerns: Generative artificial intelligence.

The new rules state that “the tools neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination” and that the academy and each branch “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”. They’re also reserving the right to request more information from the filmmaking team about the nature of the use of AI and “human authorship”.

“Humans have to be at the centre of the creative process,” said Academy president Lynette Howell Taylor. “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 centre of our awards eligibility process.”

When it comes to the eligibility of performances, only roles “demonstrably performed by humans with their consent” will be considered. The organisation declined to comment on whether the upcoming AI-rendered Val Kilmer performance would be eligible, as the filmmakers have not yet submitted it for consideration.