It was recently revealed that the critically-acclaimed 2024 movie The Brutalist used artificial intelligence to complete some aspects of the film, which is something that could impact its Oscars success. The story of The Brutalist follows László Tóth, a Holocaust survivor who immigrates to America and settles in Pennsylvania. Once there, László rebuilds his career as an architect and tries to save his marriage. The cast of The Brutalist includes Adrian Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, and Emma Laird. All the actors, along with filmmaker Brady Corbet, have received immense praise for their work on The Brutalist.

Reviews for The Brutalist have been outstanding, and the film currently has an impressive score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes (via Rotten Tomatoes). The film has already found success at several award ceremonies, and was seen as a frontrunner to win Best Picture at the 2025 Academy Awards. Up until it was revealed that The Brutalist includes AI, it was gaining more and more steam as awards season progressed. However, the reveal that the creative team behind The Brutalist used AI to complete the film may have a significant impact on its Academy Award chances.

What The Brutalist Used AI For

AI Was Used For Dialogue & Drawings In The Brutalist

In an interview with RedShark News, The Brutalist editor Dávid Jancsó openly admitted that AI was used to complete two different aspects of the film. Firstly, the AI tool Reespeecher was used to make the Hungarian spoken in the movie sound as realistic as possible. Since much of the film’s dialogue is spoken in Hungarian, the creative team behind the film thought this was important. Secondly, GenAI was used to create a series of architectural drawings that can be seen at the end of The Brutalist. When speaking about the use of AI for the film, Jancsó stated:

It is controversial in the industry to talk about AI, but it shouldn’t be. We should be having a very open discussion about what tools AI can provide us with. There’s nothing in the film using AI that hasn’t been done before. It just makes the process a lot faster. We use AI to create these tiny little details that we didn’t have the money or the time to shoot.

Based on this quote, it is clear that Jancsó thought it was completely justifiable to use AI to complete work on The Brutalist. In the interview, he claims that Hungarian is one of the hardest languages in the world to learn. He acknowledges that both Brody and Jones did a fantastic job learning the language, but claims that they didn’t even want native speakers to be able to spot any errors. Jancsó revealed that they tried to use ADR first to perfect the Hungarian dialogue, but admitted that Respeecher worked so much better.

Why The Brutalist Using AI Is So Controversial

AI Remains A Sensitive Topic In Hollywood

The use of AI while working on movies is a very controversial topic in the industry, especially after the 2023 Hollywood strikes. One of the main reasons why actors and writers went on strike in 2023 was to protect their jobs from the advancement of AI. Therefore, those within the industry and even fans have been quick to criticize films that have utilized AI. An example of another 2024 movie that used AI is the horror film Late Night With The Devil, which featured AI-generated art in the background of countless sH๏τs.

Late Night With The Devil’s utilization of AI-generated art is similar to The Brutalist’s filmmakers using AI to create architectural drawings and finished buildings at the end of the movie. While defenders of AI, like Jancsó, stress that it is just a tool to make certain aspects of the filmmaking process more efficient and cost-effective, many within the industry worry that artists are losing their jobs because of AI. For example, many have argued that a real-life artist could have been hired to complete drawings for the ending of The Brutalist, rather than having AI generate the artwork.

Will The AI Reports Hurt The Brutalist’s Oscars 2025 Chances?

The Brutalist Has Been Praised As One Of The Best Movies of 2024

Many who have praised The Brutalist have noted that it is an incredible accomplishment that Corbet directed such an ambitious film on a budget of only $10 million. Leading up to the 2025 Academy Awards, The Brutalist’s meager budget has been a major talking point, and has earned it more respect within the filmmaking community. However, there is a strong chance that the reveal that The Brutalist used AI will hurt its Academy Award chances. This has already been a very close Oscars race, so a knock like this could set up another movie to take home the top prize.

It is worth mentioning that it is not uncommon for Best Picture hopefuls to garner controversy. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Green Book, and Joker are some recent examples of controversial films that were nominated for Best Picture. Green Book was a movie about racism and the experiences of a Black man in 1960s America that faced controversy for mostly being told from the perspective of a White man. However, Green Book still managed to win Best Picture. Therefore, while it’s possible that The Brutalist could still win Best Picture, AI is an extremely sensitive topic in Hollywood right now.

The Academy Likely Needs To Better Address AI Use In Movies

Should Any Movies That Use AI Be Considered At The Academy Awards?

After the reveal that The Brutalist utilized AI, the 2025 Oscars will make clear exactly how the Academy feels about using AI for movies. In addition to the Best Picture race, Brody was also the frontrunner to win Best Actor at the Academy Awards. Therefore, if the Academy takes a strong stance against the use of AI in movies, there’s a chance that the Best Actor Oscar could be awarded to an actor like Timothée Chalamet instead. Going forward, it would be smart for the Academy to address what AI tools, if any, are acceptable to be used for filmmaking.

The list of available AI tools is only going to grow in the coming years. These tools will undoubtedly make certain aspects of the filmmaking process easier, but the debate about whether these tools should be used will go on. There will likely be many future controversies because AI tools will continue to be used by some filmmakers. Therefore, to avoid repeating the controversies that The Brutalist is now facing, the Academy should make a clear set of rules regarding the use of AI and what will and won’t be accepted.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes, RedShark News