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Actors created with artificial intelligence will not be eligible for an Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Friday as it launched a crackdown on the use of AI.

New rules include a requirement that only real, live human performers, and not their AI avatars, are eligible for the film world’s biggest prizes, and screenplays must have been penned by a person, rather than a chatbot.

“In the acting category, only roles credited in the film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible,” the Academy said.

The ruling comes days after an AI version of the late Val Kilmer was unveiled to an audience of cinema owners, a year after the Top Gun star’s death.

A youthful, digital version of Kilmer appeared in the trailer for archaeological action pic As Deep as the Grave, telling another character: “Don’t fear the dead and don’t fear me.”

The project was created with the enthusiastic support of the actor’s family, who granted access to Kilmer’s video archives, which were used to recreate the actor at multiple stages of his life.

Originally published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2026