The subject of AI – Artificial intelligence – has Hollywood and the music industry all abuzz. On May 1 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences addressed the issue; not outright banning the use of AI but stressed the importance of human input.
In a somewhat non-committal statement, the Academy said, “the tools neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination and the academy and each branch will judge the achievement, taking into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award.”
Academy president Lynette Howell Taylor added, “humans have to be at the center of the creative process. As AI continues to evolve, our conversations around AI will do so along with that. But for the academy, we are always going to put human authorship at the center of our awards eligibility process.”
However, only roles “demonstrably performed by humans with their consent” will be considered for any nomination.
Screenplays must be authored only by humans will be eligible for nominations.
Answering to criticism that the International Film category was unjust, outdated and subject to political interference, the Academy has made some adjustments to the eligibility in the International Film category. Films that have won “top qualifying awards from prestigious film festivals like Cannes, Venice and Toronto” are now eligible for the International category award.
Academy CEO Bill Kramer spoke on the changes saying, “as we do every year, we made a lot of, we think, really smart and progressive changes. Obviously, as the academy becomes more global, we need to think about how we are inviting international films into the Oscars conversation.”
In future, International films will not be entered by the country but simply as a film. The filmmaker and director will accept the award and have their names on the Oscar plaque.
Bill Kramer noted, “that really reflects our desire to honor the film’s creative team. That is how we approach other categories. And as we become more global, as the filmmaking community becomes more global. I think it’s really about a focus on the filmmakers and less a focus of the country.”
Beginning next year, actors will be allowed to earn more than one nomination in the same category; for example, if an actor appears in two films and is worthy of nomination for their work in both films, that actor can receive a nomination in both films.
When it comes to the original songs that play as the end credits roll…the song must play for at least 15 seconds before the end credits roll in order to be eligible for nomination in the Original Song category.