The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is drawing a firm line on artificial intelligence.

From the 2027 ceremony — the Oscars’ 99th — the Academy will assess both the extent and manner in which AI was used in a film. Only acting and writing carried out by humans will be considered eligible for an award.

To compete in either writing category (original or adapted screenplays), a script must be written by one or more humans. For the acting categories, roles must be
“demonstrably performed by humans with their consent”
to qualify.

The new rules represent the Academy’s most decisive rejection of AI contributions to date. The groundwork was laid in May 2023, when Hollywood’s writers’ unions went on strike, demanding that studios impose significant safeguards on the use of artificial intelligence in scriptwriting.

The policy shift comes as the film industry wrestles with where to draw the line on AI. A photorealistic likeness of Val Kilmer — the Top Gun and Heat actor who died last year — is set to appear in As Deep as the Grave, a new film he had planned to shoot before his illness intervened.

The legal backdrop adds further complexity. Large language models are trained on decades’ worth of text, images, and video created by humans, and Hollywood studios, actors, musicians, and authors are pursuing multiple lawsuits alleging copyright infringement against AI companies.

The Academy has been careful to note, however, that outside of acting and writing, the use of AI tools in filmmaking “neither helps nor harms the chances of achieving a nomination”. Each branch, it says, “will judge the achievement, taking into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which film to award”. The emergence of synthetic performers such as Tilly Norwood illustrates just how swiftly the industry is being forced to adapt.

Beyond the AI provisions, the Academy has also approved several structural changes across categories. In acting, performers may now receive multiple nominations within the same category if their performances place among the top vote-getters — a departure from the previous rule, under which only an actor’s highest-tallying performance would be nominated, even if several of their roles had earned sufficient votes. The change brings acting in line with other categories: in 2001, for instance, Steven Soderbergh was nominated for Best Director for both Erin Brockovich and Traffic, ultimately winning for the latter.

The Academy has also updated its rules around Best International Feature Film. Under the new policy, a non-English language film may qualify by winning the top prize at any of several major festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Busan, Sundance, Toronto, and Venice. A single country may now also have more than one film nominated in the category.

The other major change involves the award for best international feature. It will now be credited to the director, rather than the country of origin. The director’s name will appear on the statuette plaque after the film title and, if applicable, the country or region.