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Among the most noteworthy changes, the Academy now explicitly states that only roles,"demonstrably performed by humans with their consent" are eligible for Acting awards. In other words, AI creations like the much-hypedIn a statement to NPR, the Academy on Saturday said the changes are in response to listening to the global filmmaking community and addressing barriers to entry in its eligibility process.
In a statement to NPR, the Academy on Saturday said the changes are in response to listening to the global filmmaking community and addressing barriers to entry in its eligibility process. The Academy added that its rules and eligibility standards have always evolved alongside technologies such as sound, color, and CGI, and that AI is no different. Awards rules and guidelines are reviewed and refined each year.
Among the most noteworthy changes, the Academy now explicitly states that only roles,"demonstrably performed by humans with their consent" are eligible for Acting awards. In other words, AI creations like the much-hyped, the production company behind Norwood, did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment on Saturday about its creations' ban from consideration. In March, Norwood commented,"Can't wait to go to the Oscars!
" in an Instagram The Academy also requires screenplays to be"human-authored" and said it reserved the right to investigate the use of generative AI in any submission. Meanwhile, qualifying flesh-and-blood human actors can now be nominated for multiple performances in the same category if those performances get enough votes to land in the top five.
So, someone like Anne Hathaway, who has"If an actor has an extremely prolific year, might we even see someone swallow up three of the five nominations? ,"Under previous rules, an actor could only receive one nomination per category. If they had two high-ranking performances in Best Actor, for example, only the one with the most votes would move forward.
While international films can still be the official selection of their countries, now they can qualify by winning the top prize at a major international festival such as the Palme d'Or at Cannes, the Golden Lion at Venice, or the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Historically, countries"owned" the nomination, and only one film per country was allowed.
The new rules allow multiple films from the same country to compete if they are critically acclaimed, and it shifts the honor from a geopolitical entity to the filmmakers themselves. The changes have prompted a largely positive reaction from the film community on social media, such as on the popularThe Academy's Awards Committee oversees the rules in tandem with branch executive committees, the International Feature Film Executive Committee and the Scientific and Technical Awards Executive Committee.
SAG-AFTRA, the union representing Hollywood actors, reached a tentative agreement with major studios yesterday Saturday on a new contract covering films, scripted TV dramas, and streaming content. The tentative agreement still needs to be approved by the SAG-AFTRA National Board, which the union says will meet in the coming days to review the terms. Details of the new contract won’t be released before then. The actors'union began negotiating with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in February.
In 2023, actors went on a four-month strike along with Hollywood writers after negotiations for their respective contracts fell through. In late April, the Writers Guild of America approved their new labor contract.explores the weird and secret bits of SoCal that would excite even the most jaded Angelenos. He also covers mental health. Even in rapidly changing and often paved over L.A.
, there are still places where you can find ruins that tell a tale. Take the Verdugo Lodge: a long-forgotten speakeasy for old Hollywood near La Crescenta. , the timeline isn’t perfectly clear, but some of the compound was built in the 1920s. It was set up kind of like a timeshare where people bought 10 x 10 foot"tent lots" that gave them access to on-site amenities.
There was a golf course, stables, trout stream, a swimming pool... and a lodge with gambling and alcohol. Sometime around the early 1930s, the tawdry Verdugo Lodge and the surrounding land were purchased and then renamed Mountain Oaks by the Kadletzes — an entrepreneurial family who had run everything from a Turkish bath to a mini golf course. Over the next few decades, the family would rent the place out to local groups for recreational retreats.
Last year, with help from the City of Glendale, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant and other funding sources , the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority put up $6.1 million to acquire 33-acres of the land — not including the private lots where the homes stand — so the public can continue to roam the meadow and ruins. Los Angeles changes fast, and oftentimes that means some of the architectural relics of our shared past get swept up and paved over in all the"progress.
" put up $6.1 million to acquire 33-acres of the land — not including the private lots where the homes stand — so the public can continue to roam the meadow and ruins. Paul Edelman, MRCA's director of natural resources and planning, said his group will continue to manage the land, doing things like brush clearance, trash pickup and sign maintenance.
And he said there are no current plans to remove the ruins or make any major changes to the property.
“If somebody comes up with a grand idea where they can find some funding for us to do something to enhance it, we’re always open to it,” Edelman said. “I grew up directly up the hill. But I always saw the sign that said ‘private property’ and didn’t really think about it until several years ago when I finally asked Mike.
And he said, ‘Oh yeah, we got a resort speakeasy down the street,’” Linkchorst said standing among the oaks and overgrowth. , said it’s been amazing to see all of the decaying structures that were still hiding out at Mountain Oaks.
“There’s almost like these little ghosts in your head as you imagine what it was like when there was a beautiful wood floor and there was a second floor that people came jumping out of,” Linkchorst said. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report.
Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.explores the weird and secret bits of SoCal that would excite even the most jaded Angelenos. He also covers mental health. A local architect who hails from South Pasadena has meticulously crafted a 3D model of the iconic and fictional Overlook Hotel made famous in the Stanley Kubrick film,mainly works on residential and boutique commercial spaces.
But over the course of five months, he spent his nights recreating a virtual replica of the Overlook Hotel. Chieh says he’s thinking about giving the spaceship from “2001: A Space Odyssey" the virtual treatment next. Or maybe turning to a local non-fictional space,architect Anthony Chieh mainly works on residential and boutique commercial spaces.
But over the course of five months, he spent his nights meticulously recreating a virtual replica of the Overlook Hotel from the film that first scared him when he was 12. Of course he started with the deeply haunted Room 237. That’s where Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, has a terrifying encounter with a ghostly woman.
“I ended up modeling the Colorado Lounge, and then after that I was thinking maybe I should make the lobby and then arriving to the Gold Room, and then Grady’s bathroom. ”You can download Chieh's digital model of the Overlook Hotel by clicking the link in the comments section of his Users who download Chieh’s free 3D model can fly through all of those spaces, immersed in atmospheric sounds and music from the film.
“It’s interesting to dive into these kind of fictional environments and try to make sense of it,” Chieh said. “And the hope is people will get a different perspective once they’re in there. ” Kubrick’s take on the Overlook was famously inspired by real hotels like the Timberline Lodge in Oregon and the Ahwahnee in Yosemite. But the interiors you see in the film were created on sound stages in England.
“Real architecture, physical buildings, are built for people to live. And for movies, these are more meant to express the emotional aspect of things. It’s a psychological construct,” Chieh said. In a recently published video essay on YouTube, Chieh dives deep into those psychological constructs and how, as he puts it, “Kubrick designed the Overlook Hotel not as a backdrop, but as the film's true villain.
”Chieh said during the monthslong process he was reminded of the power of architecture and design in the real world too – whether it’s an uncomfortably repetitive carpet design or a claustrophobic hallway.
“You can use it in a way to make people feel comfortable and you can also use it in a way to create fear. ”Chieh says he’s thinking about giving the spaceship from “2001: A Space Odyssey" the virtual treatment next. Or maybe turning to a local non-fictional space,Music fans are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with AI songs, according to a recent report published by the music and entertainment insights company Luminate.
The decline is especially notable with young listeners who are part of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. The study compared attitudes towards AI use in music creation from May to November of 2025. It found that overall interest dropped from -13% to -20% during that time period. The Luminate report coincides with a rise in generative AI content across social media and streaming platforms.
Last year, the French company Deezeran AI detection tool to track and label how much"synthetic content" is uploaded to its streaming platform. Earlier this month, DeezerMusic fans are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with AI songs, according to a recent report published by the music and entertainment insights company Luminate. The decline is especially notable with young listeners who are part of Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
The study compared attitudes towards AI use in music creation from May to November of 2025. It found that overall interest dropped from -13% to -20% during that time period.
"Across the board, what we found is that consumers are net negative," says Audrey Schomer, a media analyst and research editor at Luminate who authored the report, titled"Generative AI in Entertainment 2026: Examining Changes in Industry Strategies, Legal Challenges & Consumer Attitudes. ""All that means is that people are more likely to feel uncomfortable than to feel comfortable with AI use.
" The results include partial AI usage as well as fully AI generated compositions or performances, though the latter is viewed in a more negative light. A significant portion of the people surveyed — about a third — feel indifferent towards AI music altogether. Schomer notes that the decline in interest is marked by people who changed their outlook from positive to negative from May to November.
The Luminate report coincides with a rise in generative AI content across social media and streaming platforms. Last year, the French company Deezeran AI detection tool to track and label how much"synthetic content" is uploaded to its streaming platform. Earlier this month, Deezerthat approximately 44% of daily uploads are now AI generated tracks.
But when it comes to listening behaviors, there's no sustained uptick to match; Deezer found that AI songs account for less than 3% of total streams on the platform, and a majority of those streams have been deemed fraudulent, meaning they're likely driven by bots rather than human listeners. .
In recent months, artists and advocates have raised concerns about how a spike in AI content on streaming services can affect how much real musicians get paid. That's because Spotify, Apple Music and several other companies rely on a pro rata model: if an artist's catalog accounts for a certain percentage of total streams on the platform, that's the percentage of total royalty payouts they receive.
In February, several artists' rights groups from around the world published ancalled"Say No To Suno" — a reference to one of the largest AI song generators — in which they claimed that AI content"dilutes the royalty pools of legitimate artists from whose music this slop is derived.
" Still, the hype around AI music isn't entirely fake. Several self-disclosed AI projects, including Xania Monet and Breaking Rust, have alreadycharts. Monet is the artificially created avatar behind Mississippi poet Telisha"Nikki" Jones, who uses Suno to turn her words into R&B compositions and performances. According to For some singers, these developments raise serious concerns about the state of the industry.
In March, R&B singer SZA told the magazine"It's happening disproportionately with Black music," SZA said.
"Why am I hearing AI covers of Olivia Dean, when Olivia Dean just came the f*** out? She can't even collect the streams. I'm also really offended by the type of Black music that's coming out of AI. Weird, stereotypical struggle music.
" Although Luminate's study did not ask listeners why their outlook on AI has shifted, Schomer suggests that musicians speaking out against AI could be moving the needle. "If people have any sort of affinities towards specific artists who have been active in some of those artist rights campaigns, then perhaps that rising awareness would lead people – particularly young people — to be more anti AI," she says.
could also be playing a role in changing attitudes, particularly for younger generations that have more anxieties about entering a rapidly changing workforce shaped by AI.
"There's more and more concerns about jobs, and I think that Gen Z are probably among the biggest receivers of some of that messaging around contraction of job opportunities entry level jobs," Schomer says. When it comes to music, Luminate's report found that sentiments are particularly negative towards new songs created by AI in the style or sound of an existing artist.
Major AI song generators including Suno and Udio have faced, have struck licensing deals with these same AI tools. The agreements would compensate artists and songwriters for opting into having their likeness, voice or style used in AI creation. Last month, Taylor Swift became the latest artist to file severalhave indicated that they'd like to create interactive ways for fans to remix and alter existing songs using AI.
Given Luminate's findings, which indicate that people are least comfortable with AI usage to create new music that mimics the sound or style of existing artists, Schomer says building audience trust in those new features could pose a real challenge.
"If the biggest decline among young users is on that particular kind of activity, it's the very thing that's being proposed to happen in these services," Schomer says. "I think that poses a potential uphill battle for the services to actually attract users and demonstrate that this is a good thing for the industry. "
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