Films made with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) will be able to win top awards at the Oscars, according to its organisers.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued new rules on Monday which said the use of AI and other digital tools would “neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination”.

Generative AI – which can create text, images, audio and video in response to simple text prompts – helped to produce some of the films awarded top industry accolades in March.

But the Academy said it would still consider human involvement when selecting its winners.

The Academy said its new language around eligibility for films made using generative AI tools was recommended by its Science and Technology Council.

Under further rule changes announced on Monday, Academy members must now watch all nominated films in each category in order to be able to take part in the final round of voting, which decides upon winners.

The use of AI in film became a hot topic after Adrian Brody took home the award for Best Actor for his role in The Brutalist at this year’s Oscars ceremony in March.

The movie used generative AI to improve the actor’s accent when he spoke Hungarian.

It then emerged similar voice-cloning technology was used to enhance singing voices in the Oscar-winning musical Emilia Perez.

The technology’s ability to quickly alter or match the tone and style of an artist, or perform edits such as subtly changing someone’s appearance, has helped it become more popular in the production of music and film.

But AI use remains controversial, and artists and actors have voiced concerns over the material used to train such tools and its impact upon their livelihoods.

Concerns and limitations

Actors and screenwriters previously highlighted fears about losing work to AI during the 2023 strikes in Hollywood.

Chelsea have spent the most on agents fees of all Premier League clubs for the second successive year.

The Football Assocation has released, external the net total paid to football agents by every club in the top five divisions of English men’s football, and the top two tiers of the women’s game.

The figures, which cover the period between 2 February 2024 and 3 February 2025, show Chelsea spent a little over £60m for agents to help facilitate transfers for the men’s team.

This is the most of any Premier League side, although the figure is down on their 2023-24 outlay of £75.1m.

The 20 Premier League teams spent a combined £409.1m on fees, down from £409.5m in the previous period.

Manchester City again spent the second most on agents – a little over £52m – followed by Manchester United with an outlay of £33m.

Aston Villa (£25m) and Newcastle (£24.3m) complete the top five biggest spenders, with the current Premier League top two of Arsenal (£22.8m) and Liverpool (£20.8m) following behind.

West Ham (£19m), Tottenham (£18.4m) and Brighton (£16.5m) are in the top 10 for outlay.

The lowest spenders were Ipswich Town, who paid out just £6.2m across a period in which they were promoted to the Premier League.

In the Championship, Leeds United far outspent the rest of the division in their attempt to get promoted back to the top flight.

Daniel Farke’s side spent £18.8m on agent fees, with the 24-club league paying out a combined £63.2m.

The second biggest spenders in the Championship were Burnley, who paid a comparatively small £5.3m to agents in this period.

In the Women’s Super League, Chelsea were also the highest spenders on agents, with the champions paying £622,604 to intermediaries.

This is nearly triple the amount of the second-highest spenders, Manchester City – £288,628 – with the 12 WSL clubs paying a combined £2.1m to agents.

This means Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea were responsible for 28.6% of the division’s spending.

Source: BBC Sports

The Chairman of the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee, Brian Mast, has called for a portion of Ghana’s next International Monetary Fund (IMF) disbursement to be directly allocated to settling outstanding debts owed to Independent Power Producers (IPPs), including facilities partly owned by U.S. pension funds and taxpayers.

In a letter addressed to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Chairman Mast expressed concern over what he described as Ghana’s continued failure to honour financial commitments under its ongoing IMF-supported programme.

“I now recommend that the United States Executive Director to the IMF, once appointed and confirmed, formally request that a specific portion of the next IMF disbursement to Ghana be explicitly directed towards settling outstanding payments owed to the IPPs,” he stated.

The recommendation follows growing disquiet over Ghana’s ballooning arrears to Independent Power Producers, including power generation facilities owned by US pension funds and US taxpayers, a situation many fear threatens the stability of the power sector and investor confidence.

According to Chairman Mast, although recent payments made by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to American-affiliated IPPs — Twin City Energy and Early Power Ltd. — marked some progress, they fell short of expectations. Each company reportedly received about $5.5 million, below the anticipated $7.5 million. These payments, made in Ghana Cedis, were nonetheless seen as a slight improvement from previous disbursement patterns.

The letter also referenced a recent economic briefing by former President John Mahama’s advisory team, which outlined key priorities for economic recovery.

These include rebuilding reserves, ring-fencing certain funds, and refinancing government obligations. However, Mast expressed scepticism about the government’s actual commitment to tackling the IPP debt burden.

“President Mahama does not appear to be listening to his advisors as proposed solutions – like ring-fencing – remain mere talking points,” Mast stated, adding that the government’s push to rebuild reserves might conflict with the urgent need to clear power sector arrears.

He further warned that continued failure to prioritise these obligations could discourage American investors and deepen the operational crisis faced by IPPs.

“I believe such a measure is essential to keeping American investors interested in Ghana, addressing the ongoing financial strain on IPPs and ensuring the stability of Ghana’s power sector,” he stressed.

The IMF’s next programme review mission to Ghana is expected in April, ahead of potential Board action in June. Chairman Mast’s intervention echoes calls made during the 118th U.S. Congress to condition previous IMF support on the resolution of IPP arrears.

Read the full letter below:

Dear Secretary Bessent,

This letter provides an update on concerning recent developments regarding payments owed to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in Ghana and the Government of Ghana’s failure to uphold its commitments to IPPs under the terms of its most recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) program. Among these IPPs are two power generation facilities owned by U.S. pension funds and the U.S. taxpayer.

An American investor recently noted that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) processed two payments each to Twin City (TCE) and Early Power Ltd. (EPL) in Ghana Cedis. While these payments, estimated at approximately $5.5 million each, are a significant improvement compared to previous periods they remain below the anticipated $7.5 million due to each entity.

On Wednesday January 29th, President John Mahama’s advisory team outlined his current administration’s economic priorities to investors. These include rebuilding the nation’s creditworthiness, building up reserves, potentially ring-fencing certain funds, and refinancing facilities to improve the government’s repayment profile. They expressed a strong focus on the power sector and highlighted efforts to rebuild the cash waterfall mechanism, taking credit for its original design. While they mentioned actively working to smooth out repayments and possibly moving certain debts to external facilities for greater confidence, they did not specifically commit to applying this approach to the power sector debt.

President Mahama does not appear to be listening to his advisors as proposed solutions – like ring-fencing – remain mere talking points. Additionally, the acknowledged scarcity of government funds suggests that the focus on rebuilding reserves might impede the simultaneous clearing of existing arrears owed to IPPs.

The IMF program, which was designed to stabilize Ghana’s economy and restore fiscal discipline, included explicit commitments to honoring financial obligations to these providers. I understand that the next IMF field report will be completed in April, following an expected in-country mission during the coming days and in preparation for potential IMF Board action in June.

Given this context and recalling House Foreign Affairs GOP engagement from the 118th Congress, which advocated for conditioning the December 2023 IMF tranche on the resolution of IPP arrears, I now recommend that the United States Executive Director to the IMF, once appointed and confirmed, formally request that a specific portion of the next IMF disbursement to Ghana be explicitly directed towards settling outstanding payments owed to the IPPs.

I believe such a measure is essential to keeping American investors interested in Ghana, addressing the ongoing financial strain on IPPs and ensuring the stability of Ghana’s power sector.

Source: Graphic online