The Oscars have a history of highlighting diverse actors and acknowledging powerful stories within cinematic artistry, but this year they have called viewers’ attention to an important modern controversy: artificial intelligence.
AI has been a key issue in several actors and writers strikes where creators have expressed their fears on the technology replacing their jobs and affecting their pay.
“The Brutalist” and “Emilia Pérez” are both 2025 Oscar-nominated films that used AI to enhance their storytelling for reasonable purposes.
“The Brutalist”‘s editor David Jancsó revealed how they used Respeecher, a Ukrainian software company that specializes in AI voice-generating technology, to perfect actors Felicity Jones and Adrien Brody’s Hungarian in the film.
“I am a native Hungarian speaker, and I know that it is one of the most difficult languages to learn and pronounce,” stated Jancsó. “We coached [Brody and Jones], and they did a fabulous job, but we also wanted to perfect it so that not even locals will spot any difference.”
The actors, along with Jancsó, had recorded their voices using the AI software to refine certain vowels and letters of their Hungarian speech for accuracy. Respeecher was only utilized for dialogue editing, which was also done manually. It was important to the director that they preserved the authenticity of Brody and Jones’ performances, especially since they had worked with a dialect coach for months.
Additionally, most of the film’s dialogue was in English, so there was not a need to cast Hungarian actors. The English was also not enhanced by Respeecher, so AI technology was not a major part of the overall production.
Golden Globes Award-winning and Oscar-nominated film, “Emilia Pérez” also used Respeecher in the film’s production to implement voice cloning techniques. Their purpose of using it was to increase the voice range of Karla Sofía Gascón, a trans-woman who played the title character.
Due to Gascón’s completed transition, there were singing registers that she could no longer reach. Cyril Holtz, the film’s re-recording mixer, cloned Gascón’s voice with Respeecher and blended it with the voice of French singer Camille, a co-writer of the production’s music. AI was used to achieve a desired outcome that the actress could not physically accomplish.
While many people condemned this action, it should be noted that previous Oscar-nominated movies have used similar techniques.
Rami Malek, the actor for Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” had his voice blended with singer Marc Martel’s for small portions of the film in order to produce the most authentic sound. The film won best film editing and best sound mixing along with Malek winning best actor at the 2019 Oscars.
The uses of AI in these highly award-nominated films were used sparingly and for practical reasons. While the technology enhanced the overall quality of the films, it does not mean filmmakers should heavily rely on it. It is still essential that actors and writers have creative liberties to produce entertainment that is made with human soul and emotion.
“The Brutalist” and “Emilia Perez”‘s use of AI is not harmful to the film industry and is an example of filmmakers capitalizing on new technology to create a more interesting film. We should not condemn these advancements in editing technology because the editors took great care in using these tools sparingly while preserving the artistic integrity of the film.
This story was written by Rachel Lopera. She can be reached at [email protected]