New Oscars rules ban Generative AI from ever being eligible for an Academy Award

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Sorry, Tilly Norwood, no Oscar for you! The Academy has changed its rules for the upcoming 99th ceremony and beyond, banning AI-generated actors and screenplays from being eligible to win any gold.

The news comes straight from the official Oscars rules page, which was updated as of May 1 to reflect a series of new changes. One of the items in the Special Rules for Acting Awards category states that "only roles credited in the film's legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible." Under Special Rules for Writing Awards, it now says that, "In order to be eligible in either Writing category, an explicit screenwriting credit must be present in the film’s legal billing and the screenplay must be human-authored."

Page 4 of the rulebook does include that some uses of AI are acceptable regarding "digital tools used in the making of the film," as the tools "neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination." Moreover, the Academy will "take into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship," and reserves the right to request more information about the nature of the use of Generative AI and human authorship.

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You might recall that Gladiator 2 allegedly (and unconsensually) used the likeness of various extras to generate an entire stadium of people... rather than just fill it with real people. You also might recall last year's introduction to Tilly Norwood, an entirely AI-generated actor created by Xicoia, the world's "first artificial intelligence talent studio," who made the headlines after reports claimed that several big-name talent agencies were interested in representing it... her. Whatever. While we've definitely seen controversy around AI-generated novels being released by Big 5 publishers, we've yet to see a big brouhaha about an AI-generated screenplay... but I'm sure it's coming.

For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2026 and beyond.

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Lauren MiliciSenior Entertainment Writer

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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