And the Oscar goes to … no one in particular: Movies made with AI can now win awards

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has introduced new rules for next year's Oscars, and one of them allows for the use of AI in films. The new guidelines do not exclude movies made with AI from winning top awards and do not limit the extent to which artificial intelligence can be used.

No harm, no foul

The use of generative AI in the making of a film will "neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination," said the academy in a press release. However, the academy will take into account the "degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award." The new rules come after "The Brutalist" and "Emilia Pérez," films nominated in this year's Oscars, received backlash for using AI.

"Simply acknowledging AI's creep into moviemaking is a big deal for the academy," said The New York Times. Some have opened up to the idea of its usage in the arts. The technology's "ability to quickly alter or match the tone and style of an artist, or perform edits such as subtly changing someone's appearance, has helped it become more popular in the production of music and film," said the BBC.

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Robot writers

Many actors and writers remain vehemently opposed. One of the main points of contention during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes was the potential for generative AI to replace them.

To end the strike, unions "made protections against the technology a prominent part of recent contract negotiations," said the Times. Many in the industry were particularly worried that studios would "seek to cut costs and save time by using tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT for tasks such as researching, treatment and script writing, instead of humans," said the BBC.

Some suggest that AI could never replace the work of actual film creatives. "It's like having a bad writer help you," Jonathan Kendrick, the co-founder and chairman of global streaming service Rokit Flix, said to the BBC. "Sure, it will get an outline done, but if you need something with emotional weight, AI isn't going to get you an Oscar." Since the Academy's guidelines do not ban the use of generative AI, it will be up to the voters to determine how much is too much and whether there was enough human influence in the production.

Along with the new AI rule, the academy has declared that voters must watch all nominated films in each category to vote in the final round. It has also introduced an award for achievement in casting.