The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is not embracing artificial intelligence, at least when it comes to the Oscars.
The Academy has drafted new rules for the 2027 Academy Awards and will not allow screenplays to be written by AI, The Associated Press reported.
“Screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible,” the group said.
As for AI-actors, as in the case of Val Kilmer in the movie “As Deep as the Grave,” the Academy said it will make judgments on a “case-by-case basis.”
Kilmer appears in the film thanks to generative AI, with approval from his family and estate after the actor died in 2025 after a battle with throat cancer, Variety reported. Kilmer was cast five years before his death.
“He was the actor I wanted to play this role,” the film’s writer and director Coerte Voorhees told Variety. “It was very much designed around him. It drew on his Native American heritage and his ties to and love of the Southwest. I was looking at a call sheet the other day, and we had him ready to shoot. He was just going through a really, really tough time medically, and he couldn’t do it.”
The Academy said only roles “demonstrably performed by humans with their consent,” but didn’t specify if Kilmer would be eligible. The film has not been submitted for consideration by the filmmakers as of May 1.
Reuters, however, said that Tilly Norwood, a completely generated AI actress, would not qualify since she is a “synthetic” actress.
The new rules governing AI state, “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,” the AP reported.
Other rule changes include actors being nominated for more than two roles in a single category, whether a song that is primarily played over end credits qualifies for original songs and allowing international films that won top awards at film festivals to be allowed to compete in the international film category, not if a country chose to submit it, the AP said.
The rules governing the Oscars are created by the Awards Committee in collaboration with branch executive committees, among others. The Board of Governors has the final approval, Variety reported.
Next year marks the 99th Academy Awards ceremony and will take place on March 14, 2027.
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