AI-generated actors and scripts are now ineligible for Oscars

<p id="speakable-summary" class="wp-block-paragraph">The organization behind the Academy Awards <a href="https://press.oscars.org/news/awards-rules-and-campaign-promotional-regulations-approved-99th-oscarsr" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">released new Oscar rules</a> on Friday, including several that address the use of generative artificial intelligence.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said that only performances “credited in the film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent” will be eligible for Academy Awards. Similarly, the academy said that screenplays must be “human-authored” to be eligible.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Academy also said it has the right to request more information about a film’s AI usage and “human authorship.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">These rule changes come as an independent film is in the works with <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/news/val-kilmer-ai-film-as-deep-as-the-grave-1236691042/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">an AI-generated version of Val Kilmer</a>, as AI “actress” Tilly Norwood <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/11/ai-actor-tilly-norwood-put-out-the-worst-song-ive-ever-heard/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">keeps making headlines</a>, and as <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/15/hollywood-isnt-happy-about-the-new-seedance-2-0-video-generator/">new video models</a> are causing at least a few filmmakers to make sweeping declarations of despair. AI was also one of the main sticking points in <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/26/writers-strike-over-ai/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the actors’ and writers’ strikes</a> back in 2023.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Outside Hollywood, at least one novel has been <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/21/publisher-pulls-horror-novel-shy-girl-over-ai-concerns/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pulled by its publisher</a> due to the apparent use of AI, and other writers’ groups are declaring that AI usage makes work <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/25/science-fiction-writers-comic-con-say-goodbye-to-ai/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ineligible for awards</a>.</p>