The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has issued, for the first time, formal guidance on the use of artificial intelligence in performances and screenplays for the 2027 Oscars, stressing that human creative authorship must remain central without imposing an outright ban on AI tools. In category updates released Friday, the academy said AI should neither unfairly help nor harm a work’s chances and that each voting branch will assess entries based on how much human authorship is at the core of the creative achievement. The academy also reserves the right to request further information from filmmakers about any AI use and the nature of human contribution.
On performance eligibility, the academy requires that roles be demonstrably performed by humans with their consent. Officials declined to give a blanket answer about specific hypotheticals, such as a digital recreation of a deceased actor, noting such cases will be evaluated individually and eligibility could depend on how a performer is credited. CEO Bill Kramer said contentious instances will be reviewed on a case-by-case, year-by-year basis. For screenplays, the rule is more straightforward: scripts must be authored by humans to be eligible.
The academy framed the moves as consistent with past updates made in response to technological advances — from sound and color to CGI — and said generative AI is now being addressed in that same ongoing process.
Major changes were also announced for the International Feature Film category, reducing reliance on single-country submissions. Going forward, films that win certain top awards at major festivals will qualify regardless of whether a country submitted them. Festival prizes listed as qualifying include Cannes’s Palme d’Or, Venice’s Golden Lion, Toronto’s Platform award, Berlin’s Golden Bear, Busan’s best film prize and Sundance’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize. That approach could open the door for films such as Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident, which was screened via France rather than submitted by Iran, to be eligible based on festival recognition.
Under the new rules the film itself will be named as the nominee instead of a country or region. The award will be accepted by the filmmaker, and the director’s name will appear on the Oscar plaque after the film title and country where relevant. Kramer said the changes reflect a shift toward honoring individual filmmakers as the academy broadens its international scope.
Other adjustments include a change in acting-branch policy to allow a performer to receive more than one nomination in the same acting category in a single year, aligning acting with other branches that already permit multiple nominations. In practice, this means an actor who gives two leading performances in different films in one season could be nominated twice in the same category. A similar multiple nomination in directing occurred in 2001 when Steven Soderbergh was nominated for both Traffic and Erin Brockovich.
The academy also clarified original song eligibility for end-credit placements: if the first piece of music during the credits begins while the picture is still on screen, the song must overlap with at least the film’s final 15 seconds before the credits roll to qualify. The change is intended to distinguish songs that are integral to a film’s storytelling from those that play only after the narrative concludes.
Academy president Lynette Howell Taylor said the organization will keep reviewing eligibility rules as filmmaking and its membership continue to evolve globally.
