A revolution in Oscar rules: banning AI scripts and ending "fraud" in acting nominations.

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A revolution in Oscar rules: banning AI scripts and ending "fraud" in acting nominations.

 In a historic move to reshape the world's most prestigious film awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a comprehensive package of sweeping changes to the Oscars rules, starting with the 99th Academy Awards ceremony in March 2027. These changes include decisive measures to prohibit the use of artificial intelligence in screenwriting and limit its influence on acting, as well as a rule allowing actors to be nominated twice in the same category to eliminate manipulation of nominations. The Academy also introduced a new pathway to ensure that outstanding international films can compete through major film festivals, regardless of whether they are exclusively nominated by their home countries.

Human creativity is a red line

The most significant changes came in response to growing concerns about the encroachment of technology in Hollywood, with the Academy drawing strict red lines to ensure the "human touch" remains. The new rules officially stipulate that screenplays must be exclusively written and created by humans to be eligible for competition. In acting categories, nominations will not be accepted for roles not explicitly performed by human actors with their explicit consent. The Academy also granted itself the right to request additional information from filmmakers regarding the extent and nature of their use of artificial intelligence in their work.

The end of "fraud" in acting categories

To end a years-long controversy, the Academy passed a dramatic change allowing actors to receive more than one nomination in the same category (for example, an actor could be nominated for two leading roles in the same year), provided both roles garner enough votes to place them in the top five. This move aimed to eliminate the phenomenon of "category rigging," where production studios would deliberately push an actor's lead role to compete in the "supporting actor" category simply to avoid splitting the vote or having one of their roles disqualified if they were nominated for two different projects in the main category.

International cinema's fair treatment after the "Anatomy of a Fall" crisis

In the realm of world cinema, the Academy abolished the tradition of limiting a country's representation to a single film. Under the new rules, non-English language films can now qualify directly for nominations if they win the top prize at one of the six leading film festivals in the world (Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Toronto, and Busan).

This decision was made to avoid a repeat of what happened with the French film "Anatomy of a Fall ," which was denied representation for France despite winning the Palme d'Or, only to later win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. To further honor the filmmakers, the International Film Award will be given to the film itself, and the director will accept it on behalf of the creative team, not on behalf of the developing country.

It is noted that these sweeping reforms will officially come into effect at the 99th Academy Awards ceremony, scheduled to be broadcast live from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, March 14, 2027.