Oscars organization expands international film eligibility, addresses AI in new rules

An Oscar statue appears outside the Dolby Theatre for the 87th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 21, 2015. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File)

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

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

“As we do every year, we made a lot of, we think, really smart and progressive changes,” film academy CEO Bill Kramer told The Associated Press. “Obviously, as the academy becomes more global, we need to think about how we are inviting international films into the Oscars conversation.”

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 artificial intelligence.

The new rules state that “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.” They’re also reserving the right to request more information from the filmmaking team about the nature of the use of AI and “human authorship.”

“Humans have to be at the centre of the creative process,” said academy president Lynette Howell Taylor. “As AI continues to evolve, our conversations around AI will do so along with that. But for the academy, we are always going to put human authorship at the centre of our awards eligibility process.”

When it comes to the eligibility of performances, only roles “demonstrably performed by humans with their consent” will be considered. The organization declined to comment on whether the upcoming AI-rendered Val Kilmer performance would be eligible as the filmmakers have not yet submitted it for consideration.

A likeness is not an actor, for one, but it might also depend on how Kilmer is credited in the film: As Val Kilmer or something else? One could also take Andy Serkis as Gollum as an example of a human collaborating with technology for the final performance.

“We will review that on a case-by-case basis,” Kramer said. “We, like everybody in our industry and world, we will be assessing this every year.”

There is less ambiguity in the screenplay categories, where the rules state that “screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible.”

The film academy has often had to review its standards to meet the technological advances of the moment, whether it be sound, colour or computer generated imagery (CGI).

Sweeping changes to international film eligibility

As its membership has grown much more international, there have been increasing calls for an overhaul to the international film category, which had been continually criticized as unjust, outdated and subject to political interference. That’s led to independent and dissident filmmakers often pointedly not being submitted to represent the country they’re from.

Last year’s Palme d’Or-winner at Cannes, for instance, was “It Was Just an Accident,” from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, was not submitted as Iran’s official entry for the 98th Academy Awards, but France’s.

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

All the international films will also be credited as the nominee, not the country or region, and the award will be accepted by the filmmaker. The director’s name will also be listed on the Oscar plaque, “after the film title and country if applicable.”

“That really reflects our desire to honour the film’s creative team. That is how we approach other categories,” Kramer said. “And as we become more global, as the filmmaking community becomes more global. I think it’s really about a focus on the filmmakers and less a focus of the country.”

Actors can now be nominated for more than one award 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. If, say, this year’s best actor winner Michael B. Jordan has two extraordinary leading performances in two different films in 2026, he could possibly get two best actor nominations.

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

About those original songs in the end credits

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

“We never stop looking at ways to improve our eligibility process,” Taylor said.

Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press