Nothing is of its own explanation, Adrien Brodys Lzl Tth muses in The Brutalist when asked why he became an architect. Its a cryptic comment, but Tth gives a slightly fuller context when he adds, Is there a better description of a cube than that of its construction? There was a war on, and yet it is my understanding that many of [my buildings] remain there, still in the city my buildings were devised to endure such erosion.It is safe to say director and co-writer Brady Corbet feels some affinity with Tth given the monumental nature of The Brutalist, a film that relies very much on the old ways of film constructionbe it with VistaVision cinematography or a roadshow-like storytelling format, complete with an intermission. And yet, it is the newest tool Corbet utilized which is putting the movie in a spot of controversy on the eve of Oscar voting particularly in an industry where artificial intelligence has become a dirty word.After The Brutalists editor Dvid Jancs revealed AI was used to enhance certain elements of the performances of Brody and co-star Felicity Jones during post-production, Corbet (and presumably The Brutalists studio A24) felt the need to release a statement clarifying how an artificial voice generator app called Respeecher was discreetly employed.Adrien and Felicitys performances are completely their own, Corbet said in a statement to the press. They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents. Innovative Respeecher technology was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy. No English language was changed. This was a manual process, done by our sound team and Respeecher in post-production. The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicitys performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft.The press statement feels like a clarification on Jancss previous comments to Red Shark News, where the Hungarian editor praised Brody and Jones performances and accents, but added they wanted to perfect [the dialogue in Hungarian] so that not even locals will spot any difference. The statement also feels like swift damage control as the Oscar race appears poised to enter its homestretch, and The Brutalist is widely seen as a frontrunner, including by us, for a host of Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.Indeed, The Brutalist has been declared the best film of the year by a number of critics groups and voting organizations, including the Golden Globe Foundation, which awarded the movie Best Picture Drama. However, with the nominating ballots in, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is poised to finally announce the nominees on Thursday morning. In other words, this is a fairly inopportune moment for a narrative to emerge that could stumble a perceived frontrunner.Already social media is lit up with cinephiles and movie buffs who all seem to have a strong opinion, one way or the other, about whether the revelation about The Brutalist should be disqualifying, as one user with 14,000 likes on X put it. Another called it a disgrace when it was also revealed in Red Shark NewsThe Brutalist because the filmmakers didnt have the money or the time to shoot them. That tweet was also seen by over 400,000 users.It remains to be seen whether actual Academy voters and veterans of the industry will share the umbrage that social media does over even the slightest hint of AI, but there is no denying the controversy reveals a new battlefield in awards season. Just how much AI-enhancement is acceptable in either a performance or a film when evaluating artistic achievement? That the question is mostly being posed around The Brutalist also adds a layer of irony unto itself since one of its biggest Oscar rivals, Emilia Prez, has also been revealed to have used AI tool Respeecher in order to enhance the singing of Karla Sofia Gascn, whose eponymous character belted notes outside of Gascns natural vocal range in the musical.In terms of The Brutalist, however, the arising debate acts as a snapshot for an industry at an obvious crossroads in terms of technologies and values. To date, critics have celebrated The Brutalist for its old-fashioned aesthetics and ambitionswith the film running at a dizzying 214 minutesas well as its ability to achieve that level of craft and sprawling scope on a budget of $10 million. Of course as even the films editor has conceded, with such limited resources new technologies like AI became useful in making ends meet.Even so, artificial intelligence remains a third rail in an industry that came to a halt for about six months in 2023 after actors and writers went on strike partially to extract guarantees from studios and streaming services that their work would not be replaced by AI. While compromises were made, AI remains an economic tool of the future. But how much creatives who view it as an existential threat might be willing to see it that wayparticularly creatives within the industryis yet to be determined.The Brutalist was not the first film of 2024 to use AI in the margins of post-production. An even lower-budgeted indie, Late Night with the Devil, utilized AI to create some of the title cards seen on the fictional late night TV show at the center of that film. Meanwhile venerated auteur George Miller much more remarkably used the technology to blend the facial features of stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Alyla Browne when the latter played Taylor-Joy as a child. Do the enchantments take away from Brownes impressive performance or the power of the movie?Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!We imagine these debates will continue to be negotiated in the industry for years to come, and The Brutalists Oscar campaign might become one of the most visible flashpoints for that discussion, if for no other reason than the film is perhaps more vulnerable than previous Oscar frontrunners like Oppenheimer and Everything Everywhere All at Once.The Screen Actors Guild shockingly snubbed The Brutalist a nomination in their equivalent of the Best Picture category, the Outstanding Performance by a Cast award. It would seem the film is vulnerable with some types of voters, including actors who if the striking SAG rank and file are any indication, might be reticent about awarding what they perceive to be an acceptance of AI in the larger industry.With that said, we still would peg The Brutalist as the frontrunner in Picture and Director, and Brody the frontrunner for Best Actor. And whether they win or lose, we suspect Corbet has an eye on the films longevity lasting past Oscar night. Like Lzls buildings, this is a work meant to withstand the erosion of humanitys cyclical upheavals and conflicts. That includes awards season PR hit jobs.