Oscars Body Expands International Film Eligibility, Sets New AI Rules

The organization behind the Oscars is addressing the use of artificial intelligence in performances and scripts for the first time for the 2027 Academy Awards. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued updates to several categories on Friday, emphasizing the importance of human authorship while not banning artificial intelligence.

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

“We think we’ve made a lot of really smart and progressive changes, as we do every year,” film academy CEO Bill Kramer told the Associated Press. “Obviously, as academia becomes more global, we need to think about how to invite international films into Oscar discussions.”

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 AI.

The new rules state that “the medium neither helps nor hurts the chances of a nomination” and that the academy and each branch “will evaluate success by taking into account the degree to which a person is at the center of creative writing when choosing which films to award.” They also reserve the right to request more information from the film’s production team about the nature of AI use and “human authorship.”

“People should be at the center of the creative process,” said academy president Lynette Howell Taylor. “As AI continues to evolve, so will our conversations about AI. But as an academy, we will always put human authorship at the center of our award eligibility process.”

When it comes to the appropriateness of performances, only roles “clearly performed by people with their own consent” will be taken into account. The organization declined to comment on whether the AI-generated performance of Val Kilmer would be appropriate, as the producers have not yet submitted it for evaluation.

The resemblance may not be due to an actor but also to how Kilmer is credited in the film: as Val Kilmer or as something else. We can also consider Andy Serkis as Gollum as an example of a person collaborating with technology for the final performance.

“We will look at this on a case-by-case basis,” Kramer said. “We, like everyone in our industry and the world, will evaluate this every year.”

There is less uncertainty in the scenario categories; The rules state that “scenarios must be written by humans to be suitable.”

The film academy had to frequently revise its standards to meet the technological advances of the moment, whether it was sound, color, or computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Drastic changes to eligibility for international films As its membership becomes ever more international, there are increasing calls for an overhaul of the international film category, which has been consistently criticized as unfair, outdated and open to political interference. This results in independent and dissident filmmakers often not being allowed to openly represent their country of origin.

Last year’s Palme d’Or winner at Cannes, for example, was Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident,” which was presented with French participation rather than as Iran’s official entry into the 98th Academy Awards.

Under the new rules, “It Was Just an Accident” could be considered eligible because it won the top prize at Cannes, not because a country chose to award it. In addition to the Golden Palm in Cannes, the Golden Lion in Venice and the Platform award in Toronto, other festivals will include the Golden Bear of the Berlin International Film Festival, the best film award of the Busan International Film Festival and the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize of the Sundance Film Festival.

All international films, not country or region, will be nominated and the award will be accepted by the filmmaker. The director’s name will also appear on the Oscar plaque “after the name of the film and the country, if any.”

“This really reflects our desire to honor the creative team of the film. That’s how we approach other categories as well,” Kramer said. “And as we’ve become more global, the filmmaking community has become more global. I think it’s really about focusing on the filmmakers rather than focusing on the country.”

Actors can now be nominated for multiple awards in a category The acting branch is catching up with the rest of the academy in allowing an actor to be nominated for more than one performance in a single category. Let’s say this year’s best actor winner, Michael B. Jordan, could possibly land two best actor nominations if he delivers two standout lead performances in two different movies in 2026.

This is standard practice in other categories. In 2001, at the 73rd Oscars, Steven Soderbergh was nominated for best director for both “Traffic” and “Erin Brockovich” and won the award for the former.

And about original songs in the end credits The organization also clarified the appropriateness of original songs used in the end credits of a movie. For songs that play the first music cue during the end credits to be considered eligible, that song must at least overlap with the last 15 seconds of the film before the credits roll. This year’s original song winner, “Golden”, was a key part of “KPop Demon Hunters” and was used several times throughout the film.

“We never stop looking for ways to improve our compliance process,” Taylor said.