If you were hoping to see a computer win an Oscar, you can forget about it. The group that runs the Academy Awards just changed the rules. Starting with the show in March 2027, performances and scripts created by artificial intelligence will not be allowed to win any awards. The new rule says that filmmakers can still use AI as a tool. But the final acting performance has to be done by a real person, not a “synthetic” one. The same goes for screenplays. They must be written by humans. The Academy can ask for extra proof if they suspect a movie broke the rule. This new policy comes at a strange time. An upcoming independent movie called “As Deep as the Grave” features a digital version of the late actor Val Kilmer. He passed away in April 2025. The actor had to leave the project because he was sick. But the filmmakers used AI to put him in a big part of the movie anyway. The director, Coerte Voorhees, said the actor’s family gave him the green l...
OpenAI has launched a surprisingly cute new feature for its Codex app: AI-generated pets that float alongside your workspace. The company introduced these “optional animated companions” to the coding assistant application. Unlike the main Codex agent, these pets don’t write or fix any code. Instead, they act as a friendly overlay on your screen. They let you know what Codex is working on, send a notification when a task is finished, and tell you when the app needs your input. The main benefit is convenience. Developers can see what Codex is doing in real time without switching away from their current open app. OpenAI plans to release an Agentic AI-powered smartphone in 2028 Study finds too much reliance on AI reduces persistence and lowers performance of humans To bring a pet into view, users simply type “/pet” into the Codex app. The same command dismisses it. OpenAI included eight built-in pets to choose from. But the real fun comes with the “/hatch” command, ...