The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced a series of significant rule changes for the 99th Oscars, addressing artificial intelligence, acting and screenplay eligibility, multiple nominations, and international feature film rules. The updates, the Academy said, reflect input from the global filmmaking community and are intended to reduce barriers to entry while keeping awards criteria aligned with technological and creative developments — similar to past adaptations for sound, color and CGI.
Human performance and AI protections
The Academy now requires that roles be ‘demonstrably performed by humans with their consent’ to be eligible for Acting awards. That change explicitly rules out AI-generated personas — including the widely publicized example of Tilly Norwood — from consideration in acting categories. The production company behind Norwood, Particle6, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In March, Norwood posted on social media, saying she ‘can’t wait to go to the Oscars’ while promoting a new music video.
The Academy also updated its eligibility language for screenplays, specifying that submitted scripts must be human-authored. It reserves the right to investigate submissions suspected of using generative AI in ways that would affect authorship or creative credit.
Multiple nominations for a single actor
Under the revised rules, a human actor may receive more than one nomination in the same category if separate performances each earn enough votes to rank among the top nominees. Previously, only one performance per actor could advance in a category even if an actor had multiple vote-getting roles; the new change allows two or more performances by the same actor to be listed as nominees if voting supports it, making multiple slots possible in an unusually prolific year.
International Feature Film eligibility changes
The Academy shifted the emphasis for International Feature Film eligibility from national submissions to filmmakers and festival recognition. While countries can still submit an official selection, films can now qualify by winning a top prize at a major international festival — examples cited include the Palme d’Or at Cannes, the Golden Lion at Venice, and the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. This opens the field to multiple films from the same country if they earn significant festival honors, and prioritizes individual filmmakers’ achievements over a single national entry.
Reaction and implementation
The changes have drawn largely positive reactions across the film community, with many commentators praising the ‘human-only’ protections as a safeguard for creative jobs. The Awards Committee, branch executive committees, the International Feature Film Executive Committee and the Scientific and Technical Awards Executive Committee will oversee implementation. The new rules take effect next year and will apply to films released in 2026.