Oscars: Film Academy cracks down on artificial intelligence, opens doors to international and acting categories

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in announcing Friday updates to its rules and regulations, eliminated any gray area around its position on artificial intelligence: Artificial intelligence is not welcome at the Oscars.

The organization’s Board of Governors decreed that the only types of performances that would be eligible for acting Oscars would be those credited to a film’s legal bill and performed by humans clearly with their consent. (This appears to address questions raised by the posthumous completion of Val Kilmer’s performance, who died in 2025, using artificial intelligence.) In addition, the Academy has explicitly stated that only screenplays written by humans are eligible to write Oscars.

Under Eligibility (Rule 2), which relates to generative AI, the Academy reserves the right to request further information about the nature of the use of AI and human authorship.

In other major news, the Academy has reconsidered its long-standing policy that the Best International Oscar race will only consider one film from any country or region selected by a local Academy-approved selection committee. From now on, a film can also qualify for consideration in this category by winning first prize at one of the several major international film festivals: Berlin, Busan, Cannes, Sundance, Toronto or Venice. In other words, a single country or region can now receive multiple Academy Award nominations for Best International Feature.

In addition, the Academy Award for Best International Film will not be awarded to a country or region, but rather to its director on its behalf. Earlier this year, for example, it won an Oscar in this category Emotional valueBut the winner was technically Norway, not director Joachim Trier. From now on, the director’s name will also appear on the Oscar plaque and in the record books.

Another big change: Actors may now be nominated for multiple shows in the same category. Only in the early years of the Academy Awards was it possible for an actor to be nominated against himself; For example, Norma Shearer, L Absolutewon the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 3rd Academy Awards for a field that included Norma Shearer, for her role Their own desire. A later rule change states that if a single artist submits multiple performances that receive enough votes to finish in the top five for a category, only the top performance will be nominated. Now, though, multiple representations can be made, by aligning the acting classes with all the other classes, so that one can have multiple names.

If this rule had been in place in 2009, for example, Kate Winslet would have received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress, Reader and Revolutionary pathinstead of just one, l Reader – Which might have made it more difficult for her wins For neither, as it did that year, since it could divide its own support.

Governors Awards – in which the Academy annually celebrates up to four individuals or groups with a combination of honorary Academy Awards, the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award – will also be affected by the new rule change. Going forward, at least three “majors” must be represented in any given year.

In other words, it looks like the 2021 Governors Awards, which honored directors David Lynch and Lena Wertmüller and actresses Geena Davis and Wes Studi, won’t be possible in the future, since only two majors are represented.

The academy also did the work of a host of other tinkerers.

The number of people eligible to win the Academy Award for Best Actor has been increased from two to three.

The Best Cinematography category will now produce a shortlist of 20 films, instead of between 10 and 20 films.

Makeup and Hairstylist Branch members will no longer be eligible to vote on the category shortlist unless they have attended at least one of the two recent Branch meetings (roundtables).

To be eligible for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, tunes that begin with the end credits must now be submitted to the music section with the last 15 seconds of the film before the end credits.

Members of all branches were eligible to vote for Best Visual Effects for the Academy Award in the final round of voting, but will now only be able to do so if they watch three-minute “before and after” reels that were captured at the visual effects trial and posted on the Academy Screening Room members-only streaming service.

Regarding the campaign’s promotional regulations, the Academy has stipulated that shows with question-and-answer sessions or panel discussions before nominations may now have up to two moderators instead of one moderator. All emails sent to members via an Academy-authorized mail center must include an email address or phone number for venue accessibility inquiries.

Finally, the Academy has also introduced submission deadlines and other key dates related to the lead-up to the 99th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 14, 2027: