Oscars to prohibit AI-generated content, but most mainstream films already use it

Oscars to prohibit AI-generated content, but most mainstream films already use it

The Academy Awards, or commonly known as the Oscars, have recently changed the eligibility criteria to prohibit AI-generated screenplays and performances from 2027 onwards. An RMIT expert explains how AI tools have already been deeply embedded in the industry for years.

Dr Daniel Binns, School of Media and Communication: 

"The Oscars rules prohibit AI-generated actors and AI-generated scripts, but they don't prohibit AI use anywhere else in production.  

"While that might look like a light touch, it actually reflects a clear-eyes and honest acknowledgment that AI is already deeply embedded across the many layers of the filmmaking process. 

"Every major piece of industry-standard production and post-production software, from Adobe Premiere to DaVinci Resolve to Maya, has machine learning, one type of AI, built into it.

"This isn't generative AI, and it isn't new - algorithmic processing has been a fundamental part of filmmaking tools for years.

"Is AI being used in the film you're watching this weekend? Probably, but also probably in an incredibly boring way. What remains is still a craft, a collaborative and dynamic creative process, and for most filmmakers, that is not something they are willing to hand over."

Read more at The Conversation. 

Dr Daniel Binns is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Media and Communications at RMIT. Daniel is a media scholar and filmmaker exploring critical-creative AI. 

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General media enquiries: RMIT External Affairs and Media, 0439 704 077 or news@rmit.edu.au

21 May 2026

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21 May 2026

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