Artificial intelligence was among the subjects addressed by the Television Academy in a slate of rule changes for the 78th annual Emmy Awards, the organization announced on Friday.
In a statement added to its rules and procedures, the Academy said that it “Reserves the right to inquire about the use of AI in submissions. The core of our recognition remains centered on human storytelling, regardless of the tools used to bring it to life.”
Among other notable changes, the Emmy’s Outstanding Television Movie category has been renamed Outstanding Movie, “reflecting the evolving landscape of feature-length content produced for broadcast and streaming platforms.”
In addition to the previously announced Legacy Award, the Emmy’s first new category since 2007, the other new rules and procedures from the Television Academy are as follows:
Television Movie Category The Outstanding Television Movie category has been renamed Outstanding Movie to more accurately reflect the evolving landscape of cinematic content created for broadcast and streaming platforms.
AI Statement The following statement has been added to the Rules & Procedures: The Television Academy reserves the right to inquire about the use of AI in submissions. The core of its recognition remains centered on human storytelling, regardless of the tools used to bring it to life.
Short Form Program Categories Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series and Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series will now be tracked categories. Each category will recognize two genres: original series and series based on/derived from other programming. The number of nominees will be proportional to the number of submissions in each genre with at least one nomination for each genre.
Sound Mixing Category Split Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program has been split into two categories: Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction Program and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Reality Program.
Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary/Nonfiction or Reality Program (Original Dramatic Score) Will now allow eligibility for reality programs that contain an original dramatic score.
Outstanding Main Title Theme Music Expanded eligibility to include main-on-end themes. Both a Main Title Theme (appearing at the beginning of the program) and a Main-on-End Title Theme (appearing after the final act, before the end credits/crawl) are eligible.
Emmy Eligible Titles The following peer groups have expanded professional titles for eligibility.
Casting: Associate Casting Director has been added as an eligible title for scripted series categories (comedy, drama, and limited or anthology series). Associate Casting Director entrants must have had meaningful, creative impact. All eligibility is subject to final and definitive review by the Casting Directors Peer Group Executive Committee to determine principal creative contributions.
Costumes: Key Costumer has been added as an eligible title.
Lighting, Camera & Technical Arts: Director of Photography has been added as an eligible title in the Technical Direction and Camerawork categories, if the following conditions are met:
They are not eligible in any other category of the competition.
They are not submitting a petition to be included in the Lighting Direction/Lighting Design categories.
The Technical Director has been notified and approves their inclusion. Note: If there is no eligible Technical Director; the Director will be responsible for approving the DP.
Reality Programming: Line Producer has been added as an eligible title in all reality programming categories.
The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards take place on Monday, September 14, 2026, and the Creative Arts Emmys on Saturday, September 5, and Sunday, September 6, 2026.
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