The Academy Awards, or the Oscars, are meant to recognize and celebrate artistic and technical achievements in filmmaking; winning an Oscar is a prestigious achievement, immediately serving to increase an actor’s artistic value and recognition. Additionally, this award can give a studio major publicity and can extend a movie’s theatrical run.
Recently, however, controversy has arisen over the winners of Best Actor and Best Original Song at the 97th Oscar Awards. This year’s Oscar nominees were announced on Jan. 23, and the ceremony and television screening were held on Mar. 2. This ceremony was filled with many talented artists and movies winning awards in various categories, such as Best Actress, Best Animated Feature, and Best Actor. Recently, however, controversy has arisen over the winners of Best Actor and Best Original Song at the 97th Oscar Awards.
Two-time Oscar winner Adrien Brody, best known for his role in The Pianist as Wladyslaw Szpilman, was given the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his movie The Brutalist. However, controversy sparked when the director of the movie admitted to using AI to refine Brody’s pronunciation of Hungarian dialogue in the movie. Though the story was blown out of proportion with many accusing the movie of being filled with AI-enhanced visuals, people on the internet are split on the topic of the usage of AI. Many people online say that a good actor should be able to tweak their accents without the use of AI. Others also say that if Brody struggled so much with his accent, why not hire someone who didn’t need AI’s help? On the other hand, many people believe that this story was too exaggerated, and the way the AI was used didn’t affect Brody’s range of acting.
Additionally, the musical crime film, Emilia Perez, which had 13 Oscar nominations and won two out of 13, also incorporated AI to enhance Karla Sofia Gascon’s voice and increase her vocal range. By using AI, the directors of Emilia Perez were able to blend Gascon’s singing voice with French pop star Camille. Many people online were upset with Emilia Perez winning an Oscar in Best Original Song when it was up against many anticipated movies like Wicked, Elton John: Never Too Late, Sing Sing, and The Wild Robot.
AI being used in the entertainment industry is slowly—but surely—replacing the jobs of filmmakers and artists. Using AI saves many companies the time and money that comes from hiring a human employee. But at the end of the day, the whole point of why an actor or singer is famous is because of their talent in their field. If AI is used to fix vocal performances, can actors be considered good?
Well no. A good performer should be able to get over any stumps or challenges they face without the use of AI.
For example, Timothee Chalamet took five years of singing lessons in order to capture Bob Dylan’s voice in A Complete Unknown. Chalamet even learned how to play the guitar for this role. Chalamet put in the effort, and though it was challenging preparation, he didn’t need AI to help him or even make his process easier.
Oscar winner Mikey Madison had spent five months learning how to pole dance for her role in Anora. In an interview, Madison admitted that she was “going to have to dedicate hours a day to try and cultivate this skill…[since she wasn’t] in tune with the [alluring] part of [herself] and was essentially starting from nothing.”
Though a little use of AI to tweak voices may not seem very significant, there is still a possibility that the usage of AI will increase in these nominees. With The Brutalist, and Emilia Perez winning an Oscar, does this give the green light for other movie companies, producers, and even actors to use just a “little” AI in their projects? This possibility can end with talented performers being pushed off to the side while AI projects thrive.
The Oscars are meant to be an award ceremony that acknowledges the achievements, hard work, and talent of human filmmakers, crew members, artists, and actors. Having projects that incorporate AI to enhance vocal performances, winning over authentic work can cheapen the value of the awards. AI winning over human-made projects could be seen as diminishing and undermining human contributions to the industry.
AI is used so much in today’s society, with programs like ChatGPT and DeepSeek being used in art, writing, social media, videos, and even movie editing. The Oscars are awards that symbolize the achievements of human filmmaking and should remain a celebration for those talented and hard-working. It shouldn’t turn into a contest between human creativity and AI-driven enhancements.
