The Academy Considers Disclosure Rules for AI Use in Films

Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist has impressed audiences with its epic scope, striking cinematography, and lengthy runtime, but the film has also faced controversy over its use of AI to modulate the voices of its actors. Other films released this awards season have also utilized AI, leading the Academy to consider introducing new disclosure rules for the technology.

Variety Reports on the Academy’s Considerations

According to Variety, machine learning tools have been widely used in recent films, and the Academy is considering making optional disclosure rules mandatory. The outlet reports:

The Academy currently offers an optional disclosure form for AI use, but Governors and Branch executive committees are now investigating how AI is used in each branch with an eye toward making disclosure mandatory in the 2026 Oscars rules, which are expected to be published in April.

The Controversy Surrounding The Brutalist

The film, which tells the story of the fictional László Tóth, a Jewish architect from Hungary who survives a Nazi concentration camp and becomes entangled with the dealings of a wealthy business magnate, sparked controversy when news of its use of AI tools came to light. The controversy was fueled by an interview with the film’s editor, Dávid Jancsó, who explained that the production had hired the Ukrainian software company Respeecher to make the film’s actors sound like they had authentic Hungarian accents. The film also used AI to create some of the architectural blueprints that appear in the film.

Jancsó’s Perspective on AI in Filmmaking

Jancsó stated, "It is controversial in the industry to talk about AI, but it shouldn’t be. We should be having a very open discussion about what tools AI can provide us with. There’s nothing in the film using AI that hasn’t been done before. It just makes the process a lot faster. We use AI to create these tiny little details that we didn’t have the money or the time to shoot."

The Industry’s Stance on AI

AI has been a conundrum for Hollywood, with the industry unsure whether to ban the tools or adopt them. Last year, OpenAI headed to Hollywood in an attempt to sell studios on its video-generation technology, Sora. Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic, The Irishman, also famously attempted to use deepfake-like technologies to de-age the film’s actors for flashbacks. Despite the slow creep of new forms of automation into the filmmaking process, there has been little evidence to suggest that what audiences want is more of it in their movies.