AI-Generated 'Actress' Tilly Norwood Sparks Controversy in Hollywood

Hollywood is not taking kindly to the AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood | TechCrunch

Tilly Norwood is a London-based actress with about 40,000 Instagram followers. Also, she's not real -- she is an AI-generated character created by Xicoia, the AI division of the production company Particle6. Eline Van der Velden, the Dutch producer who founded Particle6, introduced the idea of Norwood at the Zurich Film Festival in September. Van der Velden is currently seeking an agent to represent Norwood, who has garnered strong reactions from Hollywood. The actress Emily Blunt -- known for her roles in films like "The Devil Wears Prada," "A Quiet Place," and "Oppenheimer" -- found out about Norwood while recording a podcast with Variety. "Good Lord, we're screwed. That is really, really scary," Blunt told Variety. "Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection." SAG-AFTRA, the union representing entertainment and media professionals, released a statement in opposition to synthetic performers like Norwood. "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation," SAG-AFTRA wrote. "It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn't solve any 'problem' -- it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry." Due to the backlash, Van der Velden wrote a response post on the Tilly Norwood Instagram account. "She is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work - a piece of art. Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity," Van der Velden wrote. But actual human actors have been wary of the implications of AI that can create believable videos, something that's become even more real this week with OpenAI's release of Sora 2. That's why organizations like SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America have advocated for contractual protections against being replaced by AI. "Producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used," SAG-AFTRA wrote.

Creators of AI Actress Tilly Norwood Respond to Backlash, Create New Talent Agency

The AI tools company Particle6 is spinning off a talent agency for its AI creations, including Norwood. Should AI actors have agents? The head of an AI tools company has responded to backlash over one of its creations, an AI actor dubbed Tilly Norwood. In a post on the Tilly Norwood Instagram account, Eline Van Der Velden, the CEO of AI production company Particle6, said that Norwood is "not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art." As reported by Variety, several Hollywood actors responded angrily to the idea that Tilly Norwood might be represented by an agent and put into competition with live actors for roles. "Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$," actor Melissa Barrera wrote on her Instagram account. "How gross, read the room." Some say using an AI actor for traditional roles violates labor agreements with acting guilds. There's an enormous struggle in the entertainment industry about whether AI tools will replace humans. AI has been a major point in acting strikes and earlier this year a group of Hollywood actors petitioned to outlaw AI training on copyrighted work. In the social media post, Van Der Velden went on to say, "I also believe AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors." Particle6 has been criticized over the issue of traditional Hollywood agent representation for AI creations. Recently, Van Der Velden announced that the company is spinning off an agency for AI creations called Xicoia. But that doesn't mean the main agency would stop providing traditional representation for its AI creations. "Xicoia creates and manages the AI talent (think IP management) but they could also license out for mainstream representation, where required/requested and where appropriate," a spokesperson for Particle6 told CNET.

Tilly Norwood is a gen AI psyop

Last week at the Zurich Film Festival, Eline Van der Velden -- founder and CEO of AI production house Particle6 and its subsidiary talent studio Xicoia -- said that a number of talent agents had expressed interest in working with Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated "actress" created by the companies. Van der Velden has not gone into detail about which agencies might be contemplating whether they should bring Norwood (and by extension, Xicoia) on as clients. But simply saying that agents have come knocking was enough to get the entertainment industry trades buzzing and posting stories about how Norwood came to be. Norwood is the first of many lifelike digital avatars being cooked up at Xicoia, and Van der Velden has said that she wants "Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman." So far, the character's biggest "role" has been in Particle6's "AI Commissioner" video parodying the TV production process. Like many gen AI startup founders, Van der Velden speaks about Tilly Norwood's potential acting career with a confidence that doesn't really seem warranted when you actually see what the avatar is doing. A lot of Tilly Norwood's rollout feels like a stunt that could easily be ignored. But buzz-generating stunts like this can also lead to nonsensical ideas like "AI actors" becoming normalized in people's minds. There is an intellectual dishonesty to calling Tilly Norwood an actress that becomes abundantly clear when you understand what Xicoia has been developing. Tilly Norwood is not a real woman who can think, act, or make decisions independently -- it is an animated avatar whose movements and speech are generated by an AI model trained on footage of actual people. Deadline reports that Xicoia wants to give people ways to interact with Tilly online where the avatar could "engage in unscripted conversations, perform monologues, respond to trends in real time and adapt tone and references to suit platform-specific audiences." Some of Tilly's responses will be automated, but the avatar also requires "human creative oversight" in order to function properly. In essence, Tilly Norwood is a digital puppet that can be made to do whatever the folks at Xicoia want it to, and that seems to be a marketing point the company wants to stress. At one point in "AI Commissioner," a skeezy male avatar says that it is in love with Tilly because "she'll do anything I say," which makes it seem like Xicoia is trying to appeal to an audience keen on seeing these characters doing things other than "acting." The whole video is creepy, but also telling in terms of what Xicoia thinks Tilly can be used for. Van der Velden -- herself a former actor and comedian -- probably knows that there is more to acting than reciting lines, hitting marks, and dressing up in costumes. She also likely understands that, unless the project was an in-house Xicoia production, inserting Tilly into a movie or series would pose a number of technical challenges. But regardless of whether Van der Velden actually believes that Xicoia's gen AI creations can do what living performers can, she is seeding the idea that it's possible by getting Tilly Norwood's name into people's mouths and minds. This kind of marketing tactic is similar to the hyperbolic doomerism that AI boosters have used to hype up their products. As odd as it is to hear AI's proponents gleefully sounding alarms about how destructive the technology they're developing is, it makes much more sense when you think about those warnings as a kind of advertisement. It implies that everything about gen AI is inevitable rather than a result of the decisions people are making. And that implied inevitability is meant to make you more willing to accept and buy into the gen AI hype machine -- even when the tech doesn't really work the way it was promised. Tilly Norwood may never make it big the way Xicoia wants, but just days after the avatar began making headlines, Italian producer Andrea Iervolino announced that he has been developing an AI director designed to "celebrate the poetic and dreamlike language of great European cinema." All of this feels ridiculous because that's exactly what it is. But the larger goal is to inure you to the strangeness of it all so that when these products -- be they movies, shows, or TikToks -- finally come to market, your reaction is "Sure, why not?" Even if agents aren't banging on Xicoia's door in hopes of getting into the Tilly Norwood business, the company is trying to speak that outcome into reality. It recently told Variety that "everyone wants an interview with Tilly." And if the avatar were to secure talent representation, it would send a message to the entertainment industry that some see digital constructs as being just as capable of doing jobs that have traditionally been done by living people. What's funny about the Tilly Norwood fuss is that the avatar isn't even much of an industry first. The internet is filled with AI-generated images and footage of brunette women, and it is hard to forget Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within's Aki Ross -- a "virtual actress" (voiced by Ming-Na Wen) that Squaresoft tried to turn into a real-world celebrity. The big difference here is that Xicoia, like basically every gen AI outfit, is trying to brute force itself into relevance even as real people within the entertainment industry have cried foul. SAG-AFTRA hit the nail on the head when it said that Tilly Norwood "doesn't solve any 'problem' -- it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry." Unlike Tilly Norwood, SAG-AFTRA's concerns are very, very real, and much more deserving of our attention.

'AI actor' Tilly Norwood is dividing Hollywood - but real acting requires humanity

University of Surrey provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK. Tilly Norwood is the hottest actor in Hollywood right now. Her career has been covered by Variety, the BBC and Forbes, to name just a few publications. All of this is publicity that a young actor at the start of their career can only dream of. But Tilly doesn't dream. Nor is she actually acting in the strictest sense of the word, because Tilly is an AI actor, created by Particle6 Studios, a UK-based AI-focused film production company. There have, of course, been AI actors before. Carrie Fisher was famously resurrected for The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. James Cameron used background "actors" to populate Titanic in 1997, but until now no AI creation has achieved the media cut-through that Tilly has. This is partly due to her creator - Eline Van Der Velden - and her team. They have launched Tilly into the marketplace as a persona: something designed to act and emote. As Van Der Velden told entertainment news site Screen Daily: "[Tilly is] an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance." There is technological craft in her creation, certainly. But there is also a grey area, where that creation draws on the work, voices, physiognomy and artistry of others - blended into code, shaped for modern media and packaged in a soft-focus comedy video just meta enough to deflect criticism. My work with actors has always been deeply rewarding. At the Guilford School of Acting, where I teach, the approach is grounded in the belief that acting is born from a combination of craft, empathy, collaboration and above all a genuine exploration of what it means to be human. The story of "Tilly's" creation has stirred a powerful response among the students I have been working with: a mix of horror, fear and, perhaps most chillingly of all, resignation. Resignation that this may indeed be the direction in which the creative industries are heading. The outcry from established actors was immediate and heartfelt. On hearing that agents were already contacting the production company in hopes of representing it, A-lister Emily Blunt told interviewers: "Good lord, we're screwed. That is really, really scary. Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection." The human connection is the point. The Russian theatre practitioner, Konstantin Stanislavski, whose work consistently urged actors to seek inner truth and humanity, summed it up well. Writing in his book An Actor Prepares (1936), he explained: "To break that rule of using your own feelings is the equivalent of killing the person you are portraying, because you deprive him of a palpitating, living, human soul, which is the real source of life for a part." In a recent podcast interview with Jay Shetty, actor Emma Watson reflected on how the "movie star" version of herself had become something of an avatar in her mind. She spoke candidly about her journey from the Harry Potter films, the hypersexualisation she endured in the media and the scrutiny now placed on her every word and stance. For producers, directors, and studios, a compliant, commodified figure like Norwood is an attractive prospect: an actor who doesn't need an intimacy coordinator, won't go off-message on social media or perhaps more disturbingly, might. As impressive as the technological achievement is, the choice of an elfin-thin, 20-something female "actor" is also highly questionable. In a world where power dynamics and abuses are finally being called out through the #MeToo movement, it's perhaps no surprise that the coded, painted and constructed Tilly Norwood has arrived. The "actor" is programmable and usable. It looks human but is, at its core, deficient. And will always remain so. Because what makes an actor is that ineffable thing: humanity. Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

Hollywood performers union condemns AI-generated 'actress' Tilly Norwood

LOS ANGELES, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The recent debut of an AI-generated "actress" dubbed Tilly Norwood, and its producer's boasts of interest from studio executives, sparked a backlash on Tuesday from the SAG-AFTRA actors union, condemning the replacement of human performers with "synthetics." The Hollywood buzz around Tilly Norwood, introduced on Saturday at a film industry conference in Zurich, and the union's scathing reaction to it reflected the dread many in the creative community feel about the intersection of artificial intelligence and show business. The official Tilly Norwood launch consisted of a 20-second appearance of the photo-real character - a twenty-something fictional ingénue bearing no particular resemblance to any real celebrity - in a brief video parody about making an AI-generated television show. Dutch actor-producer Eline Van der Velden, whose London-based AI production studio Particle6 created Tilly Norwood, said during her presentation at the Zurich Summit the project was starting to turn heads. After months of facing boardroom skepticism, talent agents were starting to tell her: "'We need to do something with you guys,'" Hollywood trade paper Variety quoted Van der Velden as saying. She said an announcement of a first-of-its-kind talent agency deal was a few months away, Variety reported. Concerns about Hollywood actors and writers being exploited, and even supplanted, by AI-generated scripts and performers was a major issue SAG-AFTRA's most recent round of contract talks with studios and streaming services. Computer-generated imagery is nothing new to the film and television industry, and AI-enhanced software has more recently emerged in various effects such as "de-aging" technology allowing actors to portray younger versions of themselves. The ability to convincingly replicate a feature-length human film performance with AI stand-ins is still seen as far off. 'VERY REAL EMOTIONS' Nevertheless, the prospect of talent agents suddenly showing interest in AI-created figures stirred a swift denunciation from SAG-AFTRA, representing 160,000 actors, announcers, recording artists, stunt performers and other talent. "Creativity is, and should remain, human-centered," the union said in a statement. "The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics." The parody video, which first appeared in July, actually comprises 16 AI-generated characters in all. But Tilly Norwood - a winsome figure with shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes, a British accent and her own social media profile - was the star. A separate Facebook post attributed to the character exclaims: "I may be AI generated, but I'm feeling very real emotions right now. I am so excited for what's coming next!" SAG-AFTRA officials were not amused. "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor," the union said in its statement. "It's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers - without permission or compensation." Van der Velden sought to assuage such concerns in an Instagram message, saying Tilly Norwood "is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work - a piece of art. Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity." Van der Velden was more provocative in an interview in July with the publication Broadcast International, which quoted her as saying: "We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we're doing." Not everyone is convinced Tilly Norwood packs such potential. Yves Bergquist, director of AI in media at the University of Southern California's Entertainment Technology Center, called the hoopla "nonsense." "There is a lot of very understandable nervousness and fear out there about talent being replaced," he said. But judging from his own daily interactions with Hollywood executives, Bergquist said there was zero interest from "serious people" in developing entirely synthetic characters. "Scarlett Johansson has a fan base. Scarlett Johansson is a person," he said. (This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of 'Bergquist' in paragraphs 17 and 18) Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Danielle Broadway and Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Disrupted * Worker Rights Danielle Broadway Thomson Reuters Danielle Broadway covers topics that range from film premieres, celebrity news, Hollywood legal proceedings, theater, press junkets, enterprise stories and more at Thomson Reuters. She has a bachelor's and a master's degree in English Literature from Cal State Long Beach and previously worked at the Los Angeles Times and freelanced at Teen Vogue, USA Today, Black Girl Nerds and other outlets. Danielle won an LA Press Club award for her Los Angeles Times cover story about South Los Angeles representation in the show "Insecure" and is a GLAAD Media Award nominee for her work on the PBS series "Subcultured" episode about the gay rodeo. She is a member of the African American Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, LA Press Club and GALECA (LGBTQ+ Critics).

Opinion | When A.I. Came for Hollywood

In the immortal words of Emily Blunt, "Good Lord, we're screwed." She was on a podcast with Variety Monday when she was handed a headline about cinema's latest sensation, Tilly Norwood. Agents are circling the hot property, a fresh-faced young British brunette actress who is attracting global attention. Norwood is A.I., and Blunt is P.O.'d. In fact, she says, she's terrified. Told that Tilly's creator, Eline Van der Velden, a Dutch former actress with a master's in physics, wants her to be the next Scarlett Johansson, Blunt protested, "But we have Scarlett Johansson." (Cue the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" music.) All over Hollywood, actresses are cursing Tilly, her Pygmalion, Van der Velden, and the increasingly withdrawn men who prefer to be turned on by eternally youthful and preternaturally gorgeous A.I. replicas. (No Botox or Ozempic needed.) And all over Hollywood, suits are licking their chops at the prospect of more malleable actors. "She's not going to talk back," one top talent wrangler told me dryly. They may be alarmed by one A.I. actress now, but as the A.I. expert Nate Soares, a co-author of the best seller "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies," explains, "A.I. is less like one actress and more like a puppeteer behind lots of different characters." Checking out Tilly's image, Blunt was clearly nettled. "That is really, really scary," she told Variety. "Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection." I fear it's too late. Human connections have been eroding for some time. We're all dwelling in Uncanny Valley now, staring into our personal screens, not sure what's real or fake, to the detriment of talking, dating, reading, living. We're getting another jolt about how fast A.I. is advancing. Just this past week, we've been inundated with racist, juvenile videos posted by Donald Trump, mocking Democratic leaders as the government shut down. The president is wallowing in A.I. slop. Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, debuted his Sora app, which creates alarmingly realistic videos of fake scenes. It could be TikTok with a lot more disinformation. You can use a text prompt to conjure terrorist attacks, election fraud, mass protests, war scenes and, no doubt, disturbing sexual scenarios. "Increasingly realistic videos are more likely to lead to consequences in the real world by exacerbating conflicts, defrauding consumers, swinging elections or framing people for crimes they did not commit, experts said," The New York Times reported. The app will further erode truth, and comity. This, in a country where the president sets a horrible example promoting false narratives and fake videos, and where nearly two-thirds of voters believe we're too politically divided to solve our problems. Sora will certainly be used by some to justify rejecting real content as fake. "Until recently," the Times story noted, "videos were reasonably reliable as evidence of actual events, even after it became easy to edit photographs and text in realistic ways. Sora's high-quality video, however, raises the risk that viewers will lose all trust in what they see, experts said." Although many in Tinseltown are upset by Tilly and Sora, A.I. will most likely make swift inroads in a degraded Hollywood. Largely gone are the days of blazing movie stars and prestige mass-appeal movies. (Sydney Sweeney already looks suspiciously like A.I.) Now it's Marvel, sequels, adaptations and streaming shows that feel as though they were written by an algorithm for consumption while scrolling on another screen. "I get it even though I don't like it," said Lola Kirke, the actress and author of "Wild West Village," essays about New York and her eccentric and creative family. "It's a business, after all, and they have to keep up with the preferences and demands of the public, who are more used to watching face-tuned influencers lip sync 'Real Housewives of New York' sound bites for 15 seconds than actors telling stories over the course of three acts. Maybe, in some weird way, it will revitalize interest in film and TV? That's me being optimistic -- albeit in a sad way." The less optimistic view was provided by Jaron Lanier, a top scientist at Microsoft. He said that a Hollywood studio chief was crowing about how great A.I. is because he wouldn't have to pay "all these idiot producers and actors and lighting people and composers and writers and agents." Lanier told him that studio chiefs would quickly become expendable, too, because everyone will serve at the mercy of "the big computer server at the center, and Silicon Valley will just roll right over you." While Lanier thinks a simulated character here and there is fine, he says it's "urgent" to draw the line about "the difference between A.I.-generated stuff and reality-generated stuff, to have a system in which we know what's real and what's fake." He told me: "The problem with it is, if you make the whole world run by fakes and simulations, everybody becomes increasingly more dysfunctional. Everybody becomes alienated and nervous and unsure of their own value, and the whole thing falls apart, and at some point, it's like civilizational and species collapse." That, readers, would be less than ideal. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: [email protected]. Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp and Threads.

"AI actress" Tilly Norwood slammed by SAG-AFTRA as soulless and unoriginal

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. Sounding off: An actress-turned-producer has introduced an AI-based character she claims could be the future of television. But instead of sparking excitement, the project has drawn swift backlash from SAG-AFTRA, the powerful US actors' union, which didn't find the joke funny at all. As far as we can tell, absolutely no one is actually liking this kind of stuff, except perhaps for its potential in memes and adult content. Eline Van der Velden, a Dutch comedian and actress based in London, is advocating for heavy use of AI-generated content to reshape the television industry. She is promoting her vision through "Tilly Norwood," a digital simulation of a "screen-ready" AI actress that, according to Van der Velden, could become the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman. Early reactions to this AI experiment, however, may discourage any further attempt to build a successful business out of it. Tilly Norwood was officially introduced at the Zurich Film Festival by Xicoia, the AI division of Van der Velden's production company, Particle6. The Dutch producer argued that audiences are more invested in a film's story than in its actors, and therefore, performers could easily be AI-generated. A few months ago, Particle6 shared several video clips showcasing Norwood and other AI characters. The clips were allegedly conceived to ape real-world TV production, with the company aiming to redefine video, film, and television in one go. The AI-driven approach would slash production costs by 90 percent, while preserving "creativity or quality" at the same time. SAG-AFTRA, the US actors' union, responded with strong criticism, stating that Tilly Norwood and the Xicoia project would undermine human creativity and are likely illegal. "SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics," the organization said. According to SAG-AFTRA, the uncanny likeness of Tilly Norwood was generated by an AI model trained on the work of countless professional performers, without permission nor compensation. The union described the hallucinated "actress" as soulless, devoid of emotion, and unwanted by audiences. Comments under Norwood's introduction video appear to support this sentiment. In the end, Tilly Norwood and her AI-generated "shows" don't solve any real problem - instead, they create new ones by appropriating the performances of real actors. SAG-AFTRA also reminded producers that they cannot use "synthetic performers" without complying with the union's contractual obligations, as past cases have established. Several actresses have voiced their disdain for Tilly Norwood online. Actress Mara Wilson argued that Particle6 could have simply hired one of the many real young women whose likenesses were used to create the AI persona. Facing mounting criticism, Van der Velden has attempted to reframe the project. Norwood is no longer being described as the "next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman," but rather as a "piece of art." According to Van der Velden, her goal was to spark conversation and demonstrate the power of creativity in the hands of just a few AI prompts.

Hollywood celebrities outraged over new 'AI actor' Tilly Norwood

Hollywood is not rolling out the red carpet for Tilly Norwood - an "AI actor" that has been causing a stir after its Dutch creators said the synthetic performer is in talks with talent agencies. Norwood could be mistaken for a young, aspiring actress when one glances at her Instagram page. The brunette poses for photos and showcases a fully AI-generated comedy sketch, where she describes having "girl next door vibes." "I may be AI, but I'm feeling very real emotions right now," Tilly's creators wrote on her page. "I am so excited for what's coming next!" Hollywood's powerful actors union has condemned the creation, along with A-list stars like Emily Blunt, Natasha Lyonne and Whoopi Goldberg.

SAG-AFTRA Hits Back on 'AI Actress', But Galactus' Response Is Better

By now you've seen images of the doe-eyed "synthetic performer" named "Tilly Norwood." The AI fabrication made headlines over the weekend when it was revealed (via Deadline) that some talent agents were actually interested in representing "Tilly." Hollywood met this chilling threat with disgust and fury, though none said it better or more succinctly than geek god Ralph Ineson: Speaking to Variety, Emily Blunt also weighed in after being shown a photo of Tilly Norwood. "That is really, really scary," she said. "Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection." Actors union SAG-AFTRAâ€"which made AI use a central point in its big 2023 strikeâ€"released a statement today that conveyed its displeasure in no uncertain terms: "SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics. "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performersâ€"without permission or compensation. It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn’t solve any 'problem'â€"it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry. Additionally, signatory producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which generally require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used.†Other Hollywood types who've spoken out include EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg (who discussed the issue on a recent episode of The View, as Entertainment Weekly reports), as well as Melissa Barrera, Toni Collette, and others (via Variety) whoâ€"like Inesonâ€"shared their outrage on social media.

Tilly Norwood, world's first AI actor, sparks Hollywood backlash

Variety quoted her as saying that talent agents who were skeptical now want in. She added that a first-of-its-kind agency deal could be announced in the coming months. The unveiling prompted a swift response from SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 performers in the United States. In a statement, the union said: "Creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics." Officials stressed that Norwood is not an actor but a product of software trained on the work of real performers "without permission or compensation." The dispute over AI actors comes after months of tense labor negotiations. Concerns about studios using artificial intelligence to replace or copy performers were central to SAG-AFTRA's contract talks in 2023 and 2024. The union won new protections, but warned that technology is advancing faster than regulation. Not everyone in the industry believes AI actors are poised to break through. Yves Bergquist, director of AI in media at the University of Southern California's Entertainment Technology Center, called the current hype "nonsense."

Could 'the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman' be an AI avatar?

"Tilly Norwood" is the name of an AI-creation that has riled up Hollywood. Xicoia hide caption Hollywood has a new "hopeful" by the name of Tilly Norwood -- not a human actor, but rather a synthetic creation made with AI. The brunette with the Margot Robbie smile has so far made only brief public appearances -- and only on social media. It's unclear whether the AI can perform scenes with other actors, since it only does monologues facing the camera in the clips. But Tilly Norwood's presence has the actors union SAG-AFTRA and others concerned this might be a step toward replacing human talent. "Tilly Norwood is not an actual human performer. It's an artificially intelligent construct," said actor and SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin in an interview with NPR. On Tuesday, the actors union issued a formal statement condemning the AI. "Different people will try and create new and interesting things. And it's an exciting environment. But nothing will ever replace a human being." Astin said that under the terms of SAG-AFTRA's contract with Hollywood producers, studios may not use synthetic performers without giving notice and bargaining over terms. Many NPR employees are members of SAG-AFTRA, but are under a different contract. AI creations are often touted as being less expensive, and they seem more and more human-like. However, human actors, like Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, have been coming to their own defense. "The artistry and dedication and real lived human experiences of SAG-AFTRA performers is what has fueled the motion picture industry for more than a century," DeBose said in a statement. "Synthetic performers, on the other hand, are created using technology that is only as effective as the content it is trained on. This technology will never create anything original and it's technology that mines from the work of human creatives without consent or pay." Hollywood has been slow to react to Tilly Norwood's arrival on the scene. Particle6, the London-based production studio behind the AI avatar, released a light-hearted video teaser about her in July. At the time, Particle6 founder and CEO Eline Van der Velden said in an interview with the British trade publication Broadcast International that her company was in discussions with talent agencies about signing Tilly Norwood, calling the AI "the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman." But Hollywood only began to react this past weekend, afterParticle6 announced at the Zurich Film Festival the launch of a new AI talent studio. "People are afraid of losing work. And actors are right to be afraid," said veteran Hollywood producer Charlie Fink, who writes about emerging technologies and the entertainment industry for Forbes and teaches on the subject at Chapman University. It's hard to know how many acting jobs will be disrupted by AI. (A 2024 study predicts a little over 20% of film, television, and animation jobs are likely to be consolidated, replaced, or eliminated by generative AI in the U.S. by 2026 -- but this research doesn't look at actors specifically.) Background and voice actors are likely more vulnerable to the displacement than the Scarlett Johanssons and Natalie Portmans of the world. "I think that we are going to see a ton of synthetic actors," Fink said. "But I don't think in top shelf movies it's going to fly." Particle6 declined NPR's request for interviews with Eline Van der Velden and Tilly Norwood. But Van der Velden responded to the pushback in an Instagram post on Sunday, calling the AI creation a "piece of art," and "not a replacement for a human being." Meanwhile, some Hollywood people aren't panicking about Tilly Norwood stealing their limelight -- at least anytime soon. "Bring it on," said host Whoopi Goldberg on ABC's The View. "We move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently. Maybe in two or three years it'll be seamless," Goldberg said. "But it's not seamless yet."

Tilly Norwood is no more an actress than ChatGPT is a person, and I'm tired of people getting this wrong

The conversation in a recent TV segment was about Sora 2, a remarkable new social media platform OpenAI's latest Sora model at its heart. It gives regular people the power to put themselves in AI videos along with their friends, often doing fantastic and unimaginable things. Its existence prompted me to proclaim, tongue-in-cheek, "Nothing is real!" and that's when the discussion turned to Tilly Norwood, the would-be "AI actress". The TV anchor I was speaking to could be forgiven for casually referring to Tilly as an 'actress.' After all, that's Tilly's description on her Instagram page: "Actress (aspiring)." But I'd been reading the criticism from real actors - people who fought with their unions to protect against just this type of AI incursion - and so I felt the need to interject, "Tilly Norwood is a thing, an it, not an actress." The conversation reminded me of how people often anthropomorphize robots, calling them "he" and "she" because they have a little bit of autonomy and react to their world, as if not a person, at least as a pet might do. That habit has, in recent years, carried over to chatbots, where, depending on the voice, people refer to Gemini or ChatGPT as "he" or "she". Even without faces, if something can converse with us, we imbue it with a little bit of humanity, even though we know it has none. The advent of generative images and, especially, video, coupled with synced audio, has made this issue exponentially worse, and not just because people can confuse AI-generated video with the real thing, but because creators like Tilly Norwood and Particle6 CEO Eline Van de Velden tell us they are equivalent to the real thing. When Van der Velden's company unveiled Tilly back in September, it stated that it was creating AI "artists." Van der Velden enthused to AIBusiness, "We believe that the next generation of cultural icons will be synthetic: stars who never tire, never age, and can interact with their fans." It's no wonder people, especially artists, actors, and actresses, are freaking out. Particle6 noted that Tilly was getting attention from actual talent agents, based in part on the AI-generated clips posted on her Instagram, where she has 52,000 followers. Van der Velden has somewhat backpeddled on her excitement, posting earlier this week on Tilly's Instagram that Tilly Norwood "is not a replacement for a human being but a creative work - a piece of art." That sounds like revisionist history to me. This was not some thought experiment. I think that AI companies (and studios) are very interested in generative bespoke characters that do not resemble anyone living or dead, that they can freely control and use in everything from commercials and print work to film. It will be, in the end, no different than CGI generating, say, Woody and Buzz for Toy Story, but perhaps without the benefit of a gifted voice actor behind them. Ultimately, though, even if Tilly Norwood or some other AI does go on to star in a hit film or TV series, that will only make them popular but still not human. Tilly Norwood will never be an actress, a person, or a human being. It will always be a thing, built out of bits, bytes, algorithms, and massively intelligent AI. Eventually, we may not be able to tell the difference between a Julia Roberts and a Tilly Norwood on screen, but only one of them will know they are real.

The Guardian view on Tilly Norwood: she's not art, she's data | Editorial

The first 100% AI actor is a cause for alarm. But the human connection of great acting can never be replaced The threat to human creativity from technology took another step closer this week with the appearance of Tilly Norwood, the first 100% AI-generated actor. Unsurprisingly, her unveiling at the Zurich film festival in a comic sketch called AI Commissioner caused an outcry. Emily Blunt described the film as "terrifying" and the actors' union Sag-Aftra condemned it as "jeopardising performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry". There is much that is problematic about Norwood, not least the message her "girl-next-door vibe" sends to young women. But the more serious point is that her face has been made from those of real actors without their knowledge or consent. Her lighthearted debut masks the fact that she is part of a new model of media production that rides roughshod over longstanding norms and laws governing artists and their work. Hollywood has been anticipating Norwood's arrival for some time. Films such as the 2002 sci-fi Simone, about a film director who creates the perfect actress on a computer, and 2013's The Congress, in which an ageing star is digitally scanned by her studio, were remarkably prescient. Last year's body horror The Substance, starring Demi Moore as a waning celebrity who spawns a younger clone, similarly satirised the industry's obsession with youth and beauty. Now, Victor Frankenstein-like, the film world is staring the "perfect actress" in the face. Norwood's creator, the actor and writer Eline Van der Velden, defended her as "not a replacement for a human being", but "a piece of art", describing AI as a new tool, like a paintbrush. According to its advocates, AI will democratise film, since everyone will be able to make movies without the resources of a big studio. From the Gutenberg press to talkies and TV, all creative revolutions have been feared and reviled. There wasn't always an Oscar for visual affects, after all. And AI is already part of film-making, especially in animation and sci-fi genres. Two of last year's Oscar-winning films - The Brutalist and Emilia Perez - used AI to enhance voices. Dead actors including Carrie Fisher have been resurrected for posthumous cameos. But while some welcome such possibilities, as well as the prospect of AI actors slashing production costs by 90%, workers in the film industry are justifiably alarmed. The 2023 Hollywood writers' strike resulted in a partial victory against the use of AI. And while A-listers' views on Norwood have been widely reported, as always it is less influential people whose jobs are most at risk - background and voice actors, makeup artists and production teams. AI actors are an inevitable product of a culture awash with social media slop, cosmetic surgery and fakery. As yet, Norwood can't act or interact. She can't empathise, because, it hardly needs to be said, she is not a person. She is not "art" either; she is data. The human connection is the true magic of movies, and that cannot be artificially generated. We watch films to see real people in real locations, feeling real emotions. We do not want perfect vibes. But while warnings that Norwood is a doe-eyed existential threat to the film industry might be exaggerated, at least for the moment, that doesn't mean there is nothing to fear. Legislation is slow and clunky, while technology advances dizzyingly fast. More must be done to protect performers and film crews, and the value of human creativity.

Tilly Norwood is an AI Actress Seeking Hollywood Representation

The creator of an AI-generated actress says she is about to announce which talent agency will represent Tilly Norwood -- the first creation to emerge from the AI studio Xicoia. During the Zurich Summit at the Zurich Film Festival, actor, writer, and producer Eline Van der Velden revealed that Norwood is subject to interest from multiple Hollywood talent agencies. "We were in a lot of boardrooms around February time, and everyone was like, 'No, this is nothing. It's not going to happen.' Then, by May, people were like, 'We need to do something with you guys,'" Van der Velden told Diana Lodderhose of Deadline. "When we first launched Tilly, people were like, 'What's that?,' and now we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months." Van der Velden says that Hollywood studios are quietly embracing the technology and there will be AI projects announced in the future. Norwood's Instagram bio states that the AI is an "aspiring actress" based in London. "You'll either get it or pretend you don't. I'm a creation," the bio reads. In July, Van der Velden announced that the AI made her acting debut in a comedy sketch titled "AI Commissioner." See below. "We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we're doing," Van der Velden told Broadcast International. She pointed to cost pressures as one reason the film and television industry is exploring AI. "People are realizing that their creativity doesn't need to be boxed in by a budget -- there are no constraints creatively and that's why AI can really be a positive. It's just about changing people's viewpoint." However, Van der Velden's announcement that Norwood is about to be signed to an agency has ruffled feathers. Major actors and actresses, including Toni Collette, Mara Wilson, Lukas Gage, and Nicholas Alexander Chavez, have spoken out against Norwood. Van der Velden made a statement defending herself from the criticism, which was also shared on Norwood's page. "She is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art," Van der Velden writes. "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool -- a new paintbrush. Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories." But while Van der Velden hopes that her Tilly Norwood project will bear fruit, elsewhere in Hollywood experiments with AI aren't going smoothly. Lionsgate is reportedly struggling to produce content in its partnership with AI video company Runway because, despite its vast archive, the data set is still too small to create anything that could be served up to audiences.

Creator of "AI Actress" Responds to Near-Universal Backlash

Are moviegoers ever going to accept films created using AI? And just as importantly, will the creatives who work in the industry be cool with letting the tech play a heavy role in the filmmaking process? The bitter response to a new "AI actress" suggests that the answer to both questions, at least for now, is a ringing "no." On Sunday, the creator of the digital acting persona named "Tilly Norwood" defended her brainchild after pretty much everyone said they hated it -- including, most notably, actors. "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art," Eline Van der Velden, founder of the AI firm Particle 6 Productions, said in a statement posted to Instagram. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity." Norwood's turn in the crosshairs comes as major film studios have eagerly rushed to sign deals with AI firms. The past year alone has seen generative AI effects used in a number of high profile films, ranging from "Alien: Romulus" to "The Brutalist." The AI character sparked fierce backlash last week when Van Der Velden claimed that her recently formed AI "talent studio" Xicoia was in talks with agents who were interested in signing it. "We're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months," she teased, per Deadline. An AI puppet being considered an "actress" is controversial in itself. But talking up the AI character as an actual performer that's getting signed seemed to feel like too tangible a threat to real actors, who fought for landmark AI protections in the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike that shut down Hollywood for nearly half a year. "Not an actress actually," wrote young TV star Nicholas Alexander Chavez in response to the news. "Nice try." "And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her?" asked actress Mara Wilson, best known for her titular role in the 1996 film "Matilda." "You couldn't hire any of them?" Veteran character actor Ralph Ineson summed up the general feeling in a viral tweet. "F*ck off," he wrote. Herself a comedian and actress, Van der Velden tried to address the actors' backlash by claiming Norwood isn't here for their jobs. "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush," she wrote in the statement. Van der Velden added that AI characters "should be judged as part of their own genre," instead of being compared to human actors. "She represents experimentation, not substitution." This did little to strengthen her case. "To say that this is not an attempt to replace human beings is stupid and a crock of sh*t," wrote actor Abraham Lim, replying to Van der Velden's statement. "The existence of 'Tilly,' its possibly signing with an agency, its use in any production -- those acts, in and of themselves, replace other actors and actresses." It's a fair point. If Van der Velden's creation is neither replacing humans nor should be judged by the same standards as them, why is it being hyped up in overtly anthropomorphic terms? She's calling Norwood an "AI actress," not a digital character. It's represented by an "AI talent studio," not a tech firm. Norwood has "her" own Instagram page where she masquerades as a typical influencer or celebrity. Van Der Velden says her creation "sparks conversation," but this isn't an indicator of creativity or artistic merit. In this case, that conversation was a near- universal outpouring of anger. That doesn't tell us anything unique or insightful. It just means that no one liked it. Also, there are ways of pulling off a stunt like this that don't involve actually getting an AI "signed" by agents or studios, directly imperiling the livelihood of flesh and blood talent. And if Norwood represents "experimentation," then it's certainly not the artistic kind. Everyone knows that AI can dream up eerie imitations of humans. Aping the human form, and the art we create, is its whole point. Putting an "AI actress" out there -- which is blandly photorealistic and safely adheres to conventional beauty standards -- doesn't even feel experimental in any meaningful way. It simply reinforces the tech's ability to generate boring simulacrum, and in so doing, make everyone whose creative output it averaged out into an algorithm-driven slush feel very uncomfortable about their future.

Hollywood erupts as talent agents circle 'AI actor' Tilly Norwood: 'Not surprised the first major AI actor is a young woman they can fully control' | Fortune

As you might imagine, though, few Hollywood actors are happy about this potential watershed moment for the entertainment industry. Many actors have disparaged the move on social media, in comments on Deadline's story, as well as their own social media channels and comments to the press. Academy Award nominee Emily Blunt, while promoting her new A24 movie with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, The Smashing Machine, was asked to read portions of a report about Tilly Norwood aloud when she stopped by the Variety Awards Circuit podcast, and had a pretty visceral reaction. "No, are you serious? That's an AI? Good Lord, we're screwed," she said. "That is really, really scary, Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection." When Blunt was told agents want Norwood to be "the next Scarlett Johansson," she responded: "But we already have Scarlett Johansson." Creator defends Tilly Norwood as a 'piece of art' Following the fierce backlash online, particularly from Hollywood actors, Tilly Norwood's creator Van der Velden issued a detailed statement on Instagram. "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art," she wrote. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity." Van der Velden went on to say AI should not be a replacement for people, and that nothing "can take away the craft or joy of human performance," but creating Tilly has been "an act of imagination" and "represents experimentation, not substitution." "I also believe Al characters should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors," she added. "I hope we can welcome Al as part of the wider artistic family: one more way to express ourselves, alongside theatre, film, painting, music, and countless others." Van der Velden turned comments off for that particular Instagram post. SAG-AFTRA's response, and the exploitation argument The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, which represents about 160,000 actors, creators, and media professionals, issued a pretty blunt statement about Tilly Norwood on Tuesday, saying the union is "opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics." "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation," it said in a statement. "It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience." "It doesn't solve any 'problem' -- it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry," it added. Beyond protesting the use of computer-generated actors as opposed to human actors, many in Hollywood are also pointing out how exploitative it feels to have the first so-called "AI actor" to be pursued by talent agents be a young woman. Not surprised that the first major "AI actor" is a young woman that they can fully control and make do whatever they want," actor Chelsea Edmunson said in response to Deadline's post about Tilly Norwood. "And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her?" asked Mara Wilson, who rose to fame as a child actor in Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire. "You couldn't hire any of them?" "Shame on whoever is trying to normalize this," actor Eiza Gonzalez wrote in response. "Horrific and terrifying." For added context, it's been less than two years since the historically long SAG-AFTRA strike, which stretched on for four months before finally ending in November 2023. AI protections were a key point of negotiations.

So-called AI 'actor' Tilly Norwood provokes outrage from Hollywood's real actors

The best cooking competition show ever made is streaming now on Peacock The SAG-AFTRA actors' union went on strike in 2023 to earn better minimum compensation and higher residuals from streaming, among other goals. One thing it sought was protection against "the threat of AI," and that threat is looking more prevalent just two years later. The AI "talent" studio Xicoia officially launched last weekend at the Zurich Film Festival's Zurich Summit Conference with the intention of creating AI-generated "talent" for films, TV series, and social media marketing. It started with the AI-generated Tilly Norwood, an "actor" that Xicoia is in the process of signing to a talent agency, according to founder Eline Van der Velden. SAG-AFTRA was quick to condemn Tilly Norwood, Xicoia, and the idea of replacing real actors with AI-generated fake ones. "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation," the union said in a statement released Tuesday. "It creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry." Emily Blunt, who's starring in the upcoming The Smashing Machine, called the situation around Tilly Norwood "terrifying" in an interview with Variety. "Good Lord, we're screwed," she said. "That is really, really scary. Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection." Several more actors, like Ralph Ineson, Melissa Barrera, and Nicholas Alexander Chavez, also spoke out against Xicoia's Tilly Norwood. Van der Velden addressed the backlash even before SAG-AFTRA weighed in. On Sept. 28, she posted on Instagram (though Tilly Norwood's account, no less) a statement saying the AI creation "is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art." She compared AI "actors" to artists' tools, like CG imagery, puppetry, or paintbrushes. Comments on the post were definitely not on Van der Velden's side, with people calling the situation embarrassing and exploitative. "You should release the names of every single individual 'Tilly' was modeled after and they should ALL receive royalties for anything grossed by this AI model," one person wrote. AI-generated text, images, and now "actors" being trained on the work of real people has been a point of contention across industries as AI has only grown in popularity. Class action lawsuits have been brought against generative AI companies for training their models on people's work without permission. Anthropic AI is paying out $1.5 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by authors whose work Anthropic AI used without permission, for example. It remains to be seen if Xicoia will debut more AI "talent" or if anyone will be willing to sign them, now that so many have spoken out against exactly that. You can read SAG-AFTRA's statement in full below. "SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics. "To be clear, "Tilly Norwood" is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation. It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn't solve any "problem" -- it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry. "Additionally, signatory producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which generally require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used."

Creator says AI actress is 'piece of art' after backlash

The creator of an AI actress who exploded across the internet over the weekend has insisted she is an artwork, after a fierce backlash from the creative community. Tilly Norwood -- a composite girl-next-door described on her Instagram page as an aspiring actress -- has already attracted attention from multiple talent agents, Eline Van der Velden told an industry panel in Switzerland. Van der Velden said studios and other entertainment companies were quietly embracing AI, which her company, Particle6, says can drastically reduce production costs. "When we first launched Tilly, people were like, 'What's that?', and now we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months," said Van der Velden, according to Deadline. The AI-generated Norwood has already appeared in a short sketch, and in July, Van der Velden told Broadcast International the company had big ambitions for their creation. "We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we're doing. "People are realizing that their creativity doesn't need to be boxed in by a budget -- there are no constraints creatively and that's why AI can really be a positive." AI is a huge red line for Hollywood's creative community, and its use by studios was one of the fundamental sticking points during the writers' and actors' strikes that gripped Hollywood in 2023. "Scream" actress Melissa Barrera said performers should boycott any talent agent involved in promoting the AI actress. "Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$. How gross, read the room," she wrote on Instagram. Mara Wilson, who played the lead in "Matilda" in 1996, said such creations took work away from real people. "And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn't hire any of them?" she said on social media. In a lengthy post on Norwood's Instagram page, Van der Velden defended the character, and insisted she was not a job killer. "She is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art. Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity. "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool... AI offers another way to imagine and build stories." The use of AI has become increasingly visible in recent months in the creative industries, generating controversy each time. The virtual band "The Velvet Sundown" surpassed one million listeners on streaming platform Spotify this summer. In August, Vogue magazine published an advertisement featuring an AI-generated model.

An AI actress is generating major interest in Hollywood, and actors are not happy

What happened? AI actress Tilly Norwood is making waves in Hollywood circles. At the Zurich Film Festival, actor Eline Van der Velden, the Dutch founder of AI production studio Particle6, announced the launch of Xicoia, an artificial intelligence talent studio. Xicoia's first creation is AI actress Tilly Norwood. Van der Velden revealed that Norwood is generating significant interest from talent agents looking to sign the AI actress. Why is it important? If Norwood stars in Hollywood productions, could AI actors become the new normal? The creation of Norwood has led to tons of backlash toward Van der Velden and Xicoia. Actors like Melissa Barrera, Kiersey Clemons, Toni Collette, Lukas Gage, and more have spoken out against the agents interested in Norwood. "Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$. How gross, read the room," Barrera wrote on Instagram. Van der Velden released a statement defending Norwood, calling it a "piece of art," something that will not replace humans. "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush," Van der Velden wrote on Instagram. Recommended Videos Why should I care? For better or worse, AI is changing the landscape of Hollywood. The idea of an AI actress being treated like a human is scary to many creatives, including actors. Talent agencies work for real-life stars. If one of these agencies takes a chance on Norwood and it leads to a monetary gain, every talent agency will then follow suit and look to sign more AI creations. AI was a major point of contention in the SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. When the next round of negotiations happens next year, AI potentially replacing actors will be a major discussion point. Could it lead to another strike? The current SAG-AFTRA contract expires on June 30, 2026. Okay, what's next? Norwood remains a free agent. Until it signs with a major agency, this is all speculation as to what can happen. Norwood will not replace movie stars. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence aren't going anywhere. However, AI is here to stay in Hollywood and will continue to impact the business for years to come.

'Hollywood is desperate to hire my AI actress'

If her supporters are to be believed, actress Tilly Norwood is on the verge of Hollywood superstardom. The London-based girl-next-door starlet, they say, is preparing to sign with a major talent agency. But Tilly is not a success story from the UK theatre schools or a feel-good tale of a working-class actor with a latent skill for acting, like Owen Cooper, 15, who starred in hit Netflix drama Adolescence and became the youngest male actor to win an Emmy. Instead, she is manufactured by artificial intelligence, and so is completely fake. She, or it, is poised to be the first AI actress to be signed by a real-life talent agency that normally works with humans, according to Tilly's creator. Whether that ambition comes true or not, Tilly's creation is a sign of the challenge for the film industry as it grapples with whether AI talent can replace much more expensive real-life stars.

Hollywood Actors Union Slams 'AI Actress' Tilly Norwood as Backlash Builds - Decrypt

Entertainers join the growing backlash, calling AI entertainment "scary" and lacking a real connection. Leading actors labor union SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday condemned the rise of Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated "actress" developed by London-based Xicoia, calling the synthetic performer a threat to human entertainers. The character, developed by comedian and technologist Eline Van der Velden -- who spun off Xicoia from her production company Particle6 -- was unveiled last week at the Zurich Summit during the Zurich Film Festival in Switzerland, and immediately drew online attention. Van der Velden said multiple talent agents are already interested in signing the artificial personality. SAG-AFTRA, however, drew a sharp line between human performers and digital creations. "'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation," SAG-AFTRA said. The union criticized the creation, saying that it "has no life experience to draw from, no emotion." "From what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience," they said. According to SAG-AFTRA, projects like Tilly Norwood "create the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry." The guild also warned producers that they "may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used." Particle6 did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Decrypt. In an Instagram post, Van der Velden defended Norwood as a creative experiment rather than a threat, likening the project to animation, puppetry, and CGI. "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush," she wrote. "Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role, or shaping a performance," she said. "She represents experimentation, not substitution." But pushback in Hollywood was already growing. "Good Lord, we're screwed," Oscar-nominated actor Emily Blunt said, reacting to an image of Norwood during a recent interview. "That is really, really scary." "The problem with this is that you are suddenly up against something that's been generated with 5,000 other actors," Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg said on The View. "It's got Betty Davis's attitude, it's got Humphrey Bogart's humor, it's got my humor. So, it's a little bit of an unfair advantage, but you know what? Bring it on." For SAG-AFTRA, the backlash to Norwood echoes past labor battles. Artificial intelligence was a flashpoint in the union's months-long 2023 strike, when actors demanded protections against their likenesses and performances being replicated without consent. Despite the warnings, Van der Velden remains upbeat about AI's place in entertainment. "I hope we can welcome AI as part of the wider artistic family," she wrote. "When we celebrate all forms of creativity, we open doors to new voices, new stories, and new ways of connecting with each other."

AI-generated actor sparks outrage in Hollywood as creator seeks representation

Like thousands of actors, Tilly Norwood is looking for a Hollywood agent. Her greatest role? Pretending to be human. That's because Tilly Norwood is a 100% AI-generated product, created by Dutch producer and comedian Eline Van der Velden, founder of a company named Xicoia, which bills itself as the world's first artificial intelligence talent studio. Velden pitches her AI creation as the next Scarlet Johansson, and says there are several agents vying to represent it, CBS News' Jo Ling Kent reported recently. Since Velden launched the digital character's prospective career, Tilly Norwood has been all the talk in Hollywood. But not in a good way. Guilds, actors and filmmakers have met the Xicoia product with an immediate wave of backlash, protesting that artificial intelligence should not have a starring role in the acting profession. In a statement Tuesday, the Screen Actors Guild said that "creativity is, and should remain, human-centered." "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation," the guild said. "It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience." Actor Sean Aston, who starred in "Lord of the Rings" and "The Goonies," and was recently elected president of sag AFTRA, emphasized how AI Tilly Norwood is an artificial construct. "You're made up of stuff that doesn't belong to you," he told CBS News. "Let's just make sure that credit is given where credit is due." Van der Velden, who is also the founder of the AI production studio Particle6, promoted Tilly Norwood last month at the Zurich Summit, the industry sidebar of the Zurich Film Festival. It was there that she said talent agencies were circling Norwood and that she expected to soon announce a signing. Many in Hollywood hope that never happens. "Any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds," wrote Natasha Lyonne on Instagram. The "Russian Doll" star is directing a feature titled "Uncanny Valley" that pledges to use "ethical" artificial intelligence in combination with traditional filmmaking techniques. "Deeply misguided & totally disturbed," she added. "Not the way. Not the vibe. Not the use." Artificial intelligence is often used as a tool in film production, though its implementation is hotly debated. It was a major bargaining point in the lengthy strike by SAG-AFTRA that concluded in late 2023 with some safeguards put in place to protect the use of actors' likenesses and performances by AI. A yearlong strike by video game actors hinged on AI protections. In July, video game actors approved a new contract that mandates employers obtain written permission to create a digital replica. But there have been numerous controversies over the use of AI in acting. The Oscar-winning 2024 film "The Brutalist" used artificial intelligence for Hungarian dialogue spoken by Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones' characters, the revelation of which prompted debate in the industry. Van der Velden responded to the stir around Tilly Norwood on Instagram. "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art," Van der Velden said on Sunday. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity." Van der Velden didn't respond to interview requests Tuesday. In her post, she argued that AI characters should be judged as their own genre. "Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance," she added. "It takes time, skill and iteration to bring such a character to life." That statement was also shared on Tilly Norwood's own Instagram account. Posts include photos of the creation drinking coffee, shopping for clothes and preparing for various projects. As of Tuesday, the account had more than 33,000 followers. "Had such a blast filming some screen tests recently," one post reads. "Every day feels like a step closer to the big screen." Asked what human actors bring to a performance that AI can't, Aston, SAG-AFTRA's Aston said "authenticity," adding, "You can fall in love. Your parents can die. You can you can be in some terrifying situation. The sum of all of our emotional experiences in our life, artificial intelligence can approximate it -- it is not real."

For Your Consideration: Meet the AI actress sparking controversy

There's an emerging talent in Hollywood and she may be about to make her big screen debut. The buzz is there, the red carpet is waiting, and talent agencies are reportedly eyeing her up. There's a twist though. A significant one at that. She's 100 per cent AI. Tilly Norwood was brought to life by Dutch actress and tech creator Eline Van der Velden. Her AI studio Xicoia - a spin-off from Van der Velden's AI production studio Particle6 - is aiming to push digital 'talent' into film and television. "We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we're doing," Van der Velden told Broadcast International in July - when she soft-launched Norwood with various social media accounts. Norwood currently has 39,1k followers on Instagram, where the "actress (aspiring)" asks: "What role do you see me in?" And apparently, Van der Velden is not the only one. At this year's Zurich Summit - held as part of the industry programme at the Zurich Film Festival - she revealed that studios have been discreetly advancing AI projects. "We were in a lot of boardrooms around February time, and everyone was like, 'No, this is nothing. It's not going to happen.' Then, by May, people were like, 'We need to do something with you guys,'" she shared with Deadline. Tilly has already bagged a role in a comedic sketch titled AI Commissioner, which she posted on Facebook with the caption: "Can't believe it... my first ever role is live!" She added: "I may be AI generated, but I'm feeling very real emotions right now. I am so excited for what's coming next!" "When we first launched Tilly, people were like, 'What's that?'," shared Van der Velden. "Now we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months." In a LinkedIn post, Van der Velden commented: "Audiences? They care about the story - not whether the star has a pulse. Tilly is already attracting interest from talent agencies and fans. The age of synthetic actors isn't 'coming' - it's here." An insulting and deeply reductive way of considering audiences... and Euronews Culture aren't the only ones who think so... Indeed, the prospect of Tilly Norwood securing professional representation (something traditionally reserved for real-life talent) has sparked debate. And by 'debate', read: heated backlash surrounding cinema's equivalent of The Velvet Sundown. Social media kicked things off with comments like: "This is literally the mark of the end of the industry as we know it... say goodbye to actors"; "No one should be supporting this"; "This is deeply misguided"; "It'll do the world a huge favour to pull the plugs on AI." Then, actual performers weighed in. Real-life actress and Golden Globe winner Toni Colette posted a series of screaming-face emojis. Fellow real-life actress and filmmaker Natasha Lyonne said that "any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds", while real-life actress and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Emily Blunt said the creation was terrifying on a podcast with Variety. Elsewhere, real-life Dope, Justice League and The Flash actress Kiersey Clemons demanded transparency, calling for the names of the agencies involved to be made public. As for real-life Matilda actress Mara Wilson, she said on Instagram: "Shame on these people. They have stolen the faces of hundreds of young women to make this AI 'actress.' They're not creators. They're identity thieves." All fair and reasonable reactions, considering the existential threat that AI poses to creative industries. And even Hollywood's actors union SAG-AFTRA responded to the news that talent agents are looking to sign Tilly Norwood. "SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics," the guild said in a statement. "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers - without permission or compensation. It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience." SAG-AFTRA previously secured protections for actors' likenesses and performances against AI, in the wake of the 2023 strike. The statement continued: "It doesn't solve any 'problem' - it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry. Additionally, signatory producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used." Faced with growing backlash, Eline Van der Velden responded in a statement posted on Instagram, saying that she saw Tilly Norwood not as "a replacement for a human being, but a creative work - a piece of art." "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush," she wrote. "Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I'm an actor myself, and nothing - certainly not an AI character - can take away the craft or joy of human performance." "It takes time, skill, and iteration to bring such a character to life," she added. Yes, and not to mention the theft involved in training the AI-generated character on the work of real performers, all without permission. This part was not addressed in the statement. Granted, all forms of creativity should be celebrated. But when when artists are expressing real, legitimate concerns over the lack of AI regulations, the ubiquity of artificial intelligence in a tech-dominated world and the use of their craft in the training of AI tools, maybe read the room. After all, the threat of AI in the film world was a key issue during labour strikes that shut down the industry only two years ago, with writers and performers demanding protections from the technology. So, the red carpet remains rolled up for Tilly Norwood for the time being. Unless audiences decide they actually don't care about human artistry. Or a pulse. As of writing, neither Scarlett Johansson nor Natalie Portman have commented on their would-be successor.

Hollywood performers union slam debut of AI-generated 'actress' Tilly Norwood

The debut of an AI-generated "actress" named Tilly Norwood drew sharp condemnation on Tuesday from the SAG-AFTRA actors union, which warned against replacing human performers with "synthetics." Producers touted interest from studio executives after unveiling Norwood at a Zurich film industry conference. The recent debut of an AI-generated "actress" dubbed Tilly Norwood, and its producer's boasts of interest from studio executives, sparked a backlash on Tuesday from the SAG-AFTRA actors union, condemning the replacement of human performers with "synthetics." The Hollywood buzz around Tilly Norwood, introduced on Saturday at a film industry conference in Zurich, and the union's scathing reaction to it reflected the dread many in the creative community feel about the intersection of artificial intelligence and show business. The official Tilly Norwood launch consisted of a 20-second appearance of the photo-real character - a twenty-something fictional ingénue bearing no particular resemblance to any real celebrity - in a brief video parody about making an AI-generated television show. Dutch actor-producer Eline Van der Velden, whose London-based AI production studio Particle 6 created Tilly Norwood, said during her presentation at the Zurich Summit the project was starting to turn heads. After months of facing boardroom skepticism, talent agents were starting to tell her: "'We need to do something with you guys,'" Hollywood trade paper Variety quoted Van der Velden as saying. She said an announcement of a first-of-its-kind talent agency deal was a few months away, Variety reported. Read moreFrench films tackle AI, nuclear science and the 'it' couple of 1960s cinema Concerns about Hollywood actors and writers being exploited, and even supplanted, by AI-generated scripts and performers was a major issue SAG-AFTRA's most recent round of contract talks with studios and streaming services. Computer-generated imagery is nothing new to the film and television industry, and AI-enhanced software has more recently emerged in various effects such as "de-aging" technology allowing actors to portray younger versions of themselves. The ability to convincingly replicate a feature-length human film performance with AI stand-ins is still seen as far off. 'VERY REAL EMOTIONS' Nevertheless, the prospect of talent agents suddenly showing interest in AI-created figures stirred a swift denunciation from SAG-AFTRA, representing 160,000 actors, announcers, recording artists, stunt performers and other talent. "Creativity is, and should remain, human-centered," the union said in a statement. "The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics." The parody video, which first appeared in July, actually comprises 16 AI-generated characters in all. But Tilly Norwood - a winsome figure with shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes, a British accent and her own social media profile - was the star. A separate Facebook post attributed to the character exclaims: "I may be AI generated, but I'm feeling very real emotions right now. I am so excited for what's coming next!" SAG-AFTRA officials were not amused. "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor," the union said in its statement. "It's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers - without permission or compensation." Read moreHow AI is reinventing misogyny Van der Velden sought to assuage such concerns in an Instagram message, saying Tilly Norwood "is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work - a piece of art. Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity." Van der Velden was more provocative in an interview in July with the publication Broadcast International, which quoted her as saying: "We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we're doing." Not everyone is convinced Tilly Norwood packs such potential. Yves Berquist, director of AI in media at the University of Southern California's Entertainment Technology Center, called the hoopla "nonsense." "There is a lot of very understandable nervousness and fear out there about talent being replaced," he said. But judging from his own daily interactions with Hollywood executives, Berquist said there was zero interest from "serious people" in developing entirely synthetic characters. "Scarlett Johansson has a fan base. Scarlett Johansson is a person," he said.

Tilly Norwood, fully AI 'actor,' blasted by actors union SAG-AFTRA for 'devaluing human artistry'

A major Hollywood actors' union condemned reports that talent agents looking to sign AI "actor" Tilly Norwood for representation. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, said in a statement on Tuesday that Tilly Norwood "is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers." "It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience," the union said. The union blasted the the AI creation for "using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry." SAG-AFTRA added that Hollywood producers "should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which generally require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used," it added. Tilly Norwood was made by AI company Particle6 Productions, led by comedian and writer Eline Van der Velden, who announced on Saturday at Zurich Film Festival that several talent agencies were looking to cast the AI creation in various films and shows, prompting a wave of outrage in Hollywood. Actors, including Emily Blunt, Lukas Gage, Melissa Barrera and Kiersey Clemons, have slammed the AI creation. On Monday, EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg opened an episode of "The View" slamming it. "It's a little bit of an unfair advantage. But you know what? Bring it on," she said. "Because you can always tell them from us." Van der Velden pushed back on the criticism on Sunday, writing in a statement on Instagram that she sees "AI not as a replacement for people, but as a tool -- a new paintbrush." "AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors," she wrote. "Each form of art has its place, and each can be valued for what it uniquely brings." Van der Velden's company, Particle6, did not immediately return a request for comment on the union's statement. As part of a landmark deal between SAG-AFTRA and major Hollywood studios in 2023 -- following a strike that last more than 100 days -- the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers meet twice a year to make sure they are complying with federal regulations of AI as it continues to evolve.

The AI industry's latest curse on humanity is a fake 'actress' it wants to turn into 'the next Scarlett Johansson'

I'm constantly watching Scarlett Johansson movies and thinking it'd be better if she had no soul. Hey, want to see something horrible? Here's AI actress Tilly Norwood -- which is already more anthropomorphisation than I feel strictly comfortable with -- in a comedy sketch called AI Commissioner. Wretched, right? But buckle up, because Tilly's creators (via Variety) want to turn her into the next big thing. The homunculus-of-code-known-as-Tilly-Norwood is produced by a studio called Xicoia, itself a spin-off of AI production studio Particle6, run by producer Eline Van der Velden. On stage at the ongoing Zurich Film Festival, Van der Velden told interviewers that "When we first launched Tilly, people were like, 'What's that?', and now we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months." Per Van der Velden, Hollywood is abuzz with Tilly-mania, and producers all over tinsel-town can't wait to do something with her. It. Her. I'll believe it when I see it. 'Everyone is very excited about the thing I'm selling' is less evidence than I need to believe AI actors are about to start engulfing our favourite shows, and if that AI Commissioner sketch shows anything, it's that these things still have a ways to go before they don't across as eerie and freakish. The voicelines seem odd, sometimes stilted, and every wide mouth movement feels like the 'actor's' skeleton is on the verge of breaking free from the cage of their body. Good actors don't do that. Except Doug Jones. On LinkedIn, Van der Velden wrote that audiences "care about the story -- not whether the star has a pulse" and that AI can prove the answer to shrinking budgets and increasing demand for content. "We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we're doing," Van der Velden told Broadcast International. I think I'd rather just see Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman get the gigs.

AI actress Tilly Norwood creator claims we should 'judge her by merit,' but my mind is already made up

Meet Tilly Norwood, the product of "the world's first artificial intelligence (AI) talent studio," Xicoia. She's got accounts all over social media, is actively looking for agent representation and studios are reportedly [via Deadline] "circling" to get her in their movies. Unsurprisingly, this has received a wave of backlash from Hollywood actors and creators alike, alongside humble film and TV fans like me. Emily Blunt has dubbed the move [via Variety] "really scary," urging agencies "not to do that," but creator Eline Van der Velden has a different opinion. "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work - a piece of art," Van der Velden said at Zurich Film Festival. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity." But in a world that's already charged to the point of explosion, the last thing we need right now is more sparked conversation. Instead of being one of the best AI tools of 2025, Norwood is one of the most unnecessary... but it's the broader changes to the streaming landscape that I fear the most. On her path to (hopefully) securing an agency for Norwood in the next couple of months, Van der Velden claims she should "judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors." But we're not talking about the likes of gorgeous hand-drawn animation by Studio Ghibli, or painstakingly crafted VFX and CGI we've seen hits like Avatar and Dune. Sure, real people have made Norwood what she is, but she'd be acting alongside real people, on real sets, in real life. As the X post above rightly suggests, there will likely be a big boycott from our favorite A-list names when it comes to working with Norwood... if she even gets that far. If we're indeed judging her on merit, that means copious auditions, screen tests, rejections and extensive background work. But that's what I'm worried about the most. If Norwood is going to succeed anywhere, it's in the streaming landscape - and once she sneaks into the likes of a Netflix original movie, the floodgates are open. It's like dominoes: once one thing becomes acceptable, so does a multitude of others. AI actors could be the gateway for complete AI productions, made by AI crew and produced by AI sponsors. We're already seeing people experiment with this on a wider level (just look on YouTube), but Norwood is exactly the sort of turning point to make AI reliance commonplace. I sound like a dystopian dictator pitting the worth of AI against humans, but I don't want to open any of the best streaming services around to watch content generated by a machine. The best stories are the ones that come from authentic experiences, heart, and raw vulnerability. People are messy and so are their lives, and that just can't be replicated on the big or small screen. As Whoopi Goldberg said on The View: "You know what? Bring it on. You can always tell them from us. We move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently." We're tech people at TechRadar, so obviously we know AI has its time and place. But I can't help thinking of that viral quote from Joanna Maciejewska when it comes to the likes of Tilly Norwood: "I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes."

The AI 'actor' Tilly Norwood is a symptom of blandified film culture. We need a return to reality | Peter Bradshaw

The industry should refuse to work with these uncanny figures, which plagiarise the performances of generations of actors What is scary about "Tilly Norwood", the new AI-generated screen star created by the digital studio Xicoia, and launched in a pre-emptively ironic comedy video mocking the soulless unoriginality of AI, is how very convincing it looks in all its girl-next-door cheerfulness. I was expecting something like those Stepford-Wife AI language tutors that crop up on your Instagram feed, promising to practise German or Spanish or French with you. But it has to be said: "Tilly" is like an iPhone 17 making those faces look like a Nokia brick. It is not on screen for long and perhaps vanishes just before you sense something's off, but as things stand, "Tilly" doesn't look obviously less real than many of the performers who appear on screen today. It is not merely that the technology which creates these unreal figures gets relentlessly better and better - the creators of "Tilly" have in effect plagiarised a million style and performance touches from legions of actors who once sweated real blood to make a success of them. It's also that the aesthetics of real-world performance and writing are themselves getting more and more programmatic, blandifying downwards to meet the robot's existence halfway and create a seamless uncanny-valley context in which it can thrive. It is not merely a question of the aesthetics of female beauty (created by an overwhelmingly male army of coders and tech bros), but an aesthetics of everything on the screen. Of course, it could be that Xicoia does not seriously expect "Tilly" to have an acting career with agents etc, and the whole thing is a cunning AI-generated media row to publicise its brand. But who can doubt that AI actors are a thing? Notoriously, the movie Alien: Romulus recreated an AI avatar of the late Ian Holm to reprise his role in the 1979 sci-fi classic. It didn't look real. But that was all of a year ago. So far, the media coverage has taken an indulgently bemused tongue-in-cheek approach to "Tilly" and the threat "she" represents. But a number of very real tech people created "Tilly" and a number of very real corporate lawyers are there to enforce ownership and licensing of the brand. CEO Eline Van Der Velden has defended the existence of "Tilly" but, assuming that she herself has no hands-on coding experience of its creation, I wonder if we might also hear from the team of Victor Frankensteins under her command, the guys doing the grave-robbing or writing the programs doing the grave-robbing. What is needed is not luddism, but a real pushback from the film industry, refusing to work with these hyper-plagiarism models - and at the same time a movement like the Dogme 95 collective led by Danish film-makers Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, swearing to get back to basics, cutting out the flummery and using real actors who look real in real situations, or as real as it gets in any movie. And, as I have said many times, we need another movement like the Campaign for Real Ale in the 70s, which was repeatedly told that gassy tasteless lager was the way of the future - but refused to accept it.

Opinion: Furore over AI 'actor' Tilly Norwood reveals deeper AI anxiety

In his latest column, Jonathan McCrea gives his take on the AI 'actor' who has become the talk of tinseltown. I presume by now you've heard the name Tilly Norwood. In what sounds like a successful PR stunt for a previously unheard of AI company rather than any seismic shift in the entertainment industry, there's been a story going around like wildfire that the world's first AI actor has been "signed by an unnamed agency". Her name is Tilly Norwood and she is a pretty girl-next-door brunette with glossy hair, big eyes and perfect teeth. I generally think it's poor taste to discuss how someone looks, but in this case, Tilly isn't a person, so ... I guess that makes it okay?! It's a quirky story that I'm sure Tilly's creators Particle6 cannot believe has gotten so much oxygen, but that's the world of media today for you. The technology used to create Tilly is freely available - you could make your own AI actor today for €12.99 a month. You'd possibly do a more convincing job, too. The videos shared of Tilly "in action" are pretty pedestrian and very obviously AI. I can say with great confidence, you are unlikely to see her feature in the next Ken Loach film, drinking tea from a broken mug in a lino-floored flat in Manchester, talking about how she had no luck at the job centre. So, why is this story generating so much attention? There are two reasons, as I see it. Firstly, using realistic AI characters in film production is as inevitable as the setting of the sun or Manchester United losing. SAG-Afra - the organisation that represent real, human actors in Hollywood - foolishly took the bait and turned this disposable press release into a front page story for Variety, BBC, The Guardian and countless others. They did so by releasing a statement denouncing Tilly: "It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience". Somebody should tell James Gunn this, amiright? But we have seen AI in films before, right? Yes, we have seen AI de-age Tom Hanks and Luke Skywalker, but fully AI characters have until now only been able to get gigs on LinkedIn, where 'filmmakers' spend $3,000 dollars making godawful trailers they claim cost nothing. "Hollywood is so over," these posts claim. This content is typically bloody awful, so I hate to admit this: but I think they are right. Does Tilly spell the end of Hollywood? Image: © Particle6 We're not there yet, despite what Particle6 might want you to think, but new video models are getting scarily good at imitating real life. (If you haven't seen the sample output from Sora 2, OpenAI's latest video model, it is frankly awesome in the strictest meaning of the word). While Tilly may be unconvincing today, it is only a matter of time before studios start to weigh up the cost, effort and - let's be honest - hassle, of casting a real human when an AI avatar will do a good enough job. While some directors might want to resist, new filmmakers hungry for an opportunity won't think twice: it's a no-brainer. Sure, it might start with bit parts, but think of the cost and hassle of having one human actor on set deliver a few lines: transport, union wages, hair and make-up, costume, lighting, insurance. And Tilly will give you 100 takes without taking a break and smile while doing it. Kubrick would have had a field day. The second reason is that this story is a manifestation of the growing exasperation we all have about the 'enshittification' of everything through AI. We are constantly told that AI will take our jobs. While true experts and craftspersons will always be in demand, for many of the rest of us wallowing in the sea of mediocrity, this is starting to feel like a genuine possibility. We are slowly coming to the realisation that our jobs are around two-thirds the way to being completely obsolete: animator, journalist, consultant, career coach, accountant, public relations officer, junior lawyer, junior developer, account manager, marketing, customer service, the list goes on and grows by the minute. AI may not do these jobs much better than we do, but they will do a good enough job for a fraction of the price. We don't know what to do about it. Nobody seems to know. And yet, onwards we march. The worst thing about it all is that it is the very people who warn us about this dreadful future most loudly who also have their foot firmly on the accelerator. They've also not really explained what on earth we can do about it, which I think is a little unhelpful, to say the least. This is why the actors are up in arms over something so insignificant as a crappy AI avatar supposedly getting some deal with some unknown talent agency. They see their art, their work, their entire world being absorbed by the 'Borg', just like the musicians before them and the writers before them. Tilly Norwood is the canary in the coalmine not just for actors, but for us all. What do we do when all of our 'entertainment' is just generated by an algorithm? Stay tuned to find out. For more information about Jonathan McCrea's Get Started with AI, click here. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Hollywood's Most Terrifying Nightmare Has Arrived

Are you sure you want to unsubscribe from email alerts for Nitish Pahwa? Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. We may not have real movie stars anymore, but we'll soon have computer-generated "actors" as our aspirational celebrities instead. At least, that's the future imagined by Particle6 Productions and its founder, the (real) Dutch-British actress Eline Van der Velden, who talked about her nonhuman "acting" avatar, Tilly Norwood, at the Zurich Film Festival on Saturday. In a panel discussion, Van der Velden gushed about Particle6's new artificial intelligence lab, Xicoia, and its upcoming roster of "hyperreal digital stars," as Deadline characterizes them. The actress-entrepreneur also added that Tilly Norwood, who "starred" in a company-produced sketch video back in July, may be signing to a talent agency. "When we first launched Tilly, people were like, 'What's that?,' and now we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months," Van der Velden told the crowd in Switzerland. Having signed nondisclosure agreements with her clients, Van der Velden kept mum on further details. Hollywood, however, did not. Almost immediately after the event was reported, myriad human actors, including Toni Collette and Mara Wilson, expressed their objections to the whole affair on social media, demanding that the interested agents expose themselves. Particle6's "A.I. Commissioner" sketch, which marked Tilly's first on-screen appearance, was resurfaced and deluged with negative comments on YouTube, as was a puffy Broadcast International writeup where Van der Velden had called her virtual bot "the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman." (Clearly, she hasn't paid much attention to how much ScarJo herself loathes A.I. replicas.) Older posts from the gimmick Instagram account Particle6 made for Tilly, which includes the tag "#aiart" in its bio, also faced down a blitz of comment bombs, with Yvette Nicole Brown demanding that a clear A.I. label "should be on every single post." (Many of the comments from these prior posts have since been scrubbed; Tilly also has a thus-far inactive profile on Pinterest.) By Sunday, Van der Velden had responded with a text graphic shared on both her and Tilly's Insta accounts where she explained that Tilly "is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art." (Cue the many visual artists and other creatives who dispute the notion that auto-generations constitute art.) "I also believe AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits," the statement continued. That didn't quell the anger. On Monday's episode of The View, co-host Whoopi Goldberg pontificated on the matter for an entire segment, reading from Van der Velden's apology before going in for the takedown. "You are suddenly up against something that's been generated with 5,000 other actors," said Goldberg. "Hopefully, we'll be able to hold on because what this means is A.I. in the workplace -- not just my workplace, but in every industry." The drama continued into Tuesday: Talent agency Gersh dismissed the idea that it would sign a Tilly-style generation anytime soon, and the actors' union SAG-AFTRA, pointing to the recent strikes that won its members protections against A.I. likenesses, reiterated that Tilly "is not an actor" and noted that, "from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience." Van der Velden has purged many of the responses she's earned on Instagram, but the posts with live comments are still fielding the haters as of the time of this writing, including two short videos from February that resulted from her experiments with OpenAI's popular video generator, Sora. While Van der Velden has been testing the waters with her A.I. avatar, OpenAI is rolling out a new version of its video engine that could flood our feeds with automated, IP-informed slop -- and it's already forcing the entertainment industry into defensive mode. In anticipation of its latest model, Sora 2, the Sam Altman-led nonprofit "began alerting talent agencies and studios" that the updated generative video engine would produce "videos featuring copyright material unless copyright holders opt out of having their work appear," according to the Wall Street Journal. "While copyright characters will require an opt-out, the new product won't generate images of recognizable public figures without their permission," the report continues. OpenAI has struck deals with certain studios to prevent its tools from generating copyrighted characters, but it isn't allowing artists or studios to fully opt out their catalogs:. "Instead, it sent some talent agencies a link to report violations that they or their clients discover," the report said. For example, Marvel might get Spider-Man protected under one of these special agreements, so users can't generate him in Sora. But if an independent comic book artist doesn't want any of their work imitated, OpenAI won't preemptively block it -- forcing the artist to wait until a user makes something in their style, find it amid the morass of A.I.-overridden network feeds, and then file a manual report to have that image taken down. That whack-a-mole style of copyright flagging is a strange approach. Disney, one of the companies known to have barred its intellectual property from Sora output, is currently suing image-generator Midjourney over its careless ability to spit out the copyright material on which it's been trained. But, just like when it rushed out its "Sky" voice assistant in spite of concerns over its similarity with Scarlett Johansson's voice, OpenAI is seeking neither forgiveness nor permission. Sora 2 launched to the public on an invite- and subscriber-only basis on Tuesday, just a day after the Journal's story published online, with the addition of a TikTok-style short-form video feed where users can share their generations. Copyright lawyer Aaron Moss noticed that he was still able to generate replications of certain Disney-owned characters (King of the Hill's Hank Hill, Family Guy's Peter Griffin) although he was blocked from producing others (Mickey Mouse, Homer Simpson). Moss also found that Sora 2's "cameo" feature, which allows users to insert generated versions of themselves into videos, makes it far easier for Sora customers -- as opposed to rightsholders and their works -- to control how they're portrayed on the app. A tech enthusiast who already pays for ChatGPT's premium models can quickly determine their boundaries by offering or withdrawing their consent in the settings; once-powerful studios and talent agencies have to just try to limit instances of copyright infringement hit by hit, video by video, even as these outputs are offered free rein across the slop troughs of Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok. Hollywood is getting absolutely rolled here. It's barely an open secret that the film and TV industries are already using generative A.I. under the radar (sometimes to patronize an "ethically" trained machine), with the attendant effects felt by visual workers who once anchored so much of mass media. But if certain entertainment executives and celebrities think they'll be able to save themselves by openly embracing auto-generation, they are fools. OpenAI and other tech firms are already seizing upon legal uncertainties and long-tied, slow-moving court cases to declare any of their actions and business moves fair game; it helps they have friends in the Trump administration who loathe liberal Hollywood and are sympathetic to their A.I.-accelerationist arguments, whether for the sake of beating China or propping up our fragile economy or ensuring that the burn of billions upon billions upon billions of dollars won't singe them too much. The fact that Tilly Norwood and the company behind ChatGPT are simultaneously engendering such controversy is not a coincidence: This is an existential moment for human-created entertainment as we know it. If actors, talent bookers, and studio executives cannot hold the line now, at this very moment, the battle to preserve the humanity inherent to art will be irredeemably set back. Which might just be OK by you if you really do enjoy stuff like this:

AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood sparks Hollywood backlash

Some of Hollywood's biggest stars and the union that represents them are speaking out against the creation of an AI-generated actress following reports that she will soon by signed by a talent agency. The AI-generated actress, named Tilly Norwood, is the creation of Eline Van der Velden, the founder of Particle6, a United Kingdom-based AI production studio. Van der Velden recently created buzz about Norwood when she claimed in a Sept. 27 panel at the Zurich Summit that the company was in talks to sign its AI creation with a talent agency to represent her for acting roles. The statement prompted backlash in Hollywood, including from actress Emily Blunt, who described the prospect as "terrifying." "That is really, really scary, Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection," Blunt told Variety on Monday. Marvel star Simu Liu took to Instagram to comment, saying sarcastically, "Movies are great, but you know, what would be better is if the characters in them weren't played by actual humans, but by AI replicas approximating human emotion." Whoopi Goldberg, an Oscar-winning actress and co-host of ABC's "The View," said she believes AI-generated actors have an "unfair advantage" over human actors. "You are suddenly up against something that's been generated with 5,000 other actors ... so it's a little bit of an unfair advantage," Goldberg said Monday on "The View." SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents actors, also spoke out Monday against the use of AI actors, saying in a statement, "SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics." "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation. It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn't solve any 'problem' -- it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry," the statement continued. An account for the AI-generated actress has more than 30,000 followers on Instagram, where clips showing her acting are shared, including what the AI creation is heard describing as her first acting role. "I star in AI Commissioner, a new comedy sketch that playfully explores the future of TV development produced by the brilliant team at @particle6productions," read a video caption posted July 30 on the Tilly Norwood account. "I may be AI, but I'm feeling very real emotions right now. I am so excited for what's coming next!" Just one day after her comment about Norwood's future with a talent agency, Van der Velden said in a statement that she views Norwood as a "piece of art," not a replacement for human actors. "For those who have expressed anger over the creation of our AI character, Tilly Norwood: She is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art," Van der Velden wrote. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself, shows the power of creativity." She continued, "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool -- a new paintbrush. Just as animation, puppetry or CGI open fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I'm an actor myself, and nothing, certainly not an AI character, can take away the craft or joy of human performance."

AI-generated actor sparks outrage in Hollywood, as creator seeks representation

Like thousands of actors, Tilly Norwood is looking for a Hollywood agent. Her greatest role? Pretending to be human. That's because Tilly Norwood is a 100% AI-generated product, created by Dutch producer and comedian Eline Van der Velden, founder of a company named Xicoia, which bills itself as the world's first artificial intelligence talent studio. Velden pitches her AI creation as the next Scarlet Johansen, and says there are several agents vying to represent it, CBS News' Jo Ling Kent reported recently. Since Velden launched the digital character's prospective career, Tilly Norwood has been all the talk in Hollywood. But not in a good way. Guilds, actors and filmmakers have met the Xicoia product with an immediate wave of backlash, protesting that artificial intelligence should not have a starring role in the acting profession. In a statement Tuesday, the Screen Actors Guild said that "creativity is, and should remain, human-centered." "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation," the guild said. "It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience." Actor Sean Aston, who starred in "Lord of the Rings" and "The Goonies," and was recently elected president of sag AFTRA, emphasized how AI Tilly Norwood is an artificial construct. "You're made up of stuff that doesn't belong to you," he told CBS News. "Let's just make sure that credit is given where credit is due." Van der Velden, who is also the founder of the AI production studio Particle6, promoted Tilly Norwood last month at the Zurich Summit, the industry sidebar of the Zurich Film Festival. It was there that she said talent agencies were circling Norwood and that she expected to soon announce a signing. Many in Hollywood hope that never happens. "Any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds," wrote Natasha Lyonne on Instagram. The "Russian Doll" star is directing a feature titled "Uncanny Valley" that pledges to use "ethical" artificial intelligence in combination with traditional filmmaking techniques. "Deeply misguided & totally disturbed," she added. "Not the way. Not the vibe. Not the use." Artificial intelligence is often used as a tool in film production, though its implementation is hotly debated. It was a major bargaining point in the lengthy strike by SAG-AFTRA that concluded in late 2023 with some safeguards put in place to protect the use of actors' likenesses and performances by AI. A yearlong strike by video game actors hinged on AI protections. In July, video game actors approved a new contract that mandates employers obtain written permission to create a digital replica. But there have been numerous controversies over the use of AI in acting. The Oscar-winning 2024 film "The Brutalist" used artificial intelligence for Hungarian dialogue spoken by Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones' characters, the revelation of which prompted debate in the industry. Van der Velden responded to the stir around Tilly Norwood on Instagram. "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art," Van der Velden said on Sunday. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity." Van der Velden didn't respond to interview requests Tuesday. In her post, she argued that AI characters should be judged as their own genre. "Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance," she added. "It takes time, skill and iteration to bring such a character to life." That statement was also shared on Tilly Norwood's own Instagram account. Posts include photos of the creation drinking coffee, shopping for clothes and preparing for various projects. As of Tuesday, the account had more than 33,000 followers. "Had such a blast filming some screen tests recently," one post reads. "Every day feels like a step closer to the big screen." Asked what human actors bring to a performance that AI can't, Aston, SAG-AFTRA's Aston said "authenticity," adding, "You can fall in love. Your parents can die. You can you can be in some terrifying situation. The sum of all of our emotional experiences in our life, artificial intelligence can approximate it -- it is not real."

Creator says AI actress is 'piece of art' after backlash

Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) - The creator of an AI actress who exploded across the internet over the weekend has insisted she is an artwork, after a fierce backlash from the creative community. Tilly Norwood -- a composite girl-next-door described on her Instagram page as an aspiring actress -- has already attracted attention from multiple talent agents, Eline Van der Velden told an industry panel in Switzerland. Van der Velden said studios and other entertainment companies were quietly embracing AI, which her company, Particle6, says can drastically reduce production costs. "When we first launched Tilly, people were like, 'What's that?', and now we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months," said Van der Velden, according to Deadline. The AI-generated Norwood has already appeared in a short sketch, and in July, Van der Velden told Broadcast International the company had big ambitions for their creation. "We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we're doing. "People are realizing that their creativity doesn't need to be boxed in by a budget -- there are no constraints creatively and that's why AI can really be a positive." AI is a huge red line for Hollywood's creative community, and its use by studios was one of the fundamental sticking points during the writers' and actors' strikes that gripped Hollywood in 2023. "Scream" actress Melissa Barrera said performers should boycott any talent agent involved in promoting the AI actress. "Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$. How gross, read the room," she wrote on Instagram. Mara Wilson, who played the lead in "Matilda" in 1996, said such creations took work away from real people. "And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn't hire any of them?" she said on social media. In a lengthy post on Norwood's Instagram page, Van der Velden defended the character, and insisted she was not a job killer. "She is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work - a piece of art. Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity. "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool... AI offers another way to imagine and build stories." The use of AI has become increasingly visible in recent months in the creative industries, generating controversy each time. The virtual band "The Velvet Sundown" surpassed one million listeners on streaming platform Spotify this summer. In August, Vogue magazine published an advertisement featuring an AI-generated model.

Emily Blunt and Sag-Aftra join film industry condemnation of 'AI actor' Tilly Norwood

US actors' union joins stars in opposition to Norwood, which it says was created 'using stolen performances' The controversy around the "AI actor" Tilly Norwood continues to grow, after the actors' union Sag-Aftra condemned the development and said Norwood's creators were "using stolen performances". Sag-Aftra released a statement after the AI "talent studio" Xicoia unveiled its creation at the Zurich film festival, prompting an immediate backlash from actors including Melissa Barrera, Mara Wilson and Ralph Ineson. Sag-Aftra said it believed creativity was, "and should remain, human-centred. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics." The union added: "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers - without permission or compensation ... It doesn't solve any 'problem' - it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardising performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry." Norwood appears in a short film called AI Commissioner, produced by Particle6, whose CEO, Eline Van Der Velden, said was "100% AI generated". Van Der Velden, who launched Xicoia at Zurich, issued a statement on Sunday defending the film, saying: "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool - a new paintbrush. Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories." Van Der Velden added: "Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance. It takes time, skill and iteration to bring such a character to life." The Smashing Machine star Emily Blunt also added her voice to film industry members aghast at Norwood's creation, telling a Variety podcast: "Good Lord, we're screwed. That is really, really scary, Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection." Natasha Lyonne, the Russian Doll star who is working on a feature film using "ethical" AI, was also vocal in her disapproval, saying on social media: "Any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds. Deeply misguided & totally disturbed. Not the way. Not the vibe. Not the use."

AI actor Tilly Noorwood looks startlingly real. Hollywood is not amused

A recent study on artificial intelligence highlighted which jobs are at risk of being replaced by AI in the near future. She's young, she's starry-eyed, and she wants a career in acting. The only problem? She's not real. Tilly Noorwood, a new AI "actress" created by artificial intelligence production studio Particle6, is making waves in the entertainment industry. Noorwood, a creation of Particle6 founder Eline Van Der Velden, has been racking up followers on Instagram, where, to the untrained eye, the AI bot might pass as a normal young actress hoping to make it in the biz. There, Noorwood posts "screen tests" and "stills" from its "latest work." One video, posted July 30, boasts its "first ever role," in "AI Comissioner," a comedy sketch from Particle6 that was entirely AI-generated. With AI among the largest flashpoints in Hollywood today, Noorwood had little hope of flying under the radar. In a statement posted to Instagram, SAG-AFTRA, one of the largest entertainment unions, blasted its creation, characterizing it as an affront to the work of human performers. "SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics," the statement reads. "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation." "It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience," the statement continued. "It doesn't solve any 'problem' -- it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry." Emily Blunt, Whoopi Goldberg join SAG-AFTRA in criticizing 'AI actor' Tilly Noorwood Several stars also signaled concern, with Emily Blunt saying on Variety's Awards Circuit podcast: "Good Lord, we're screwed. That is really, really scary, Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection." "The View" host Whoopi Goldberg also signaled displeasure, saying on the talk show: "The problem with this, in my humble opinion, is that you are suddenly up against something that's been generated with 5,000 other actors... You know what? Bring it on. You can always tell them from us. We move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently." The use of AI was among the major negotiation points at the center of a multi-month strike in 2023, which ground Hollywood to a stop as several trade unions demanded better residual payments for streaming and regulation of artificial intelligence. The SAG statement concluded: "Additionally, signatory producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used." Tilly Noorwood creator compares AI-generated actor to animation, CGI In response to SAG-AFTRA's concerns, Van Der Velden posted her own statement on Instagram, arguing that Noorwood was "a creative work." "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of our AI character Tilly Norwood: she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art," Van Der Velden wrote. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity. "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool - a new paintbrush," she continued. "Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I'm an actor myself and nothing - certainly not an AI character - can take away the craft or joy of human performance. "She represents experimentation, not substitution," Van Der Veldnen continued, after describing the creation of Noorwood as an act that took time, skill and imagination. "Much of my work has always been about holding up a mirror to society through satire, and this is not different." Van Der Veldnen argued "AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors," and that "each form of art has its place, and each can be valued for what it uniquely brings." As the prominence of artificial intelligence grows in the everyday life of Americans, it remains to be seen how welcome viewers will be to the idea of it on the big screen, but the robot revolution, which Hollywood's sci-fi films imagined in many ways, is now knocking on its door. The environmental impact of the technology, research suggests, is also staggering, with a single genAI prompt estimated to use about 3 watt-hours (Wh) of electricity.

Five Things You Need to Know About the AI Actress Tilly Norwood

She also said that AI avatars can become the next Scarlett Johansson Tilly Norwood has become the latest flashpoint in the growing rift between Silicon Valley and Hollywood over artificial intelligence (AI). Norwood is an AI-powered avatar made by Particle6, and it is described as an actor. The backlash from Hollywood started during the Zurich Film Festival last week, when the founder and CEO of Particle6, Eline Van der Velden, revealed that several talent agents reached out expressing interest in working with the AI avatar. Many have voiced concerns over the possibility of AI acting in films and movies, and taking away the jobs of human actors. Five Things to Know About Tilly Norwood 1. Who is Tilly Norwood? Norwood is an AI-powered human-like digital avatar created by Particle6 and promoted by its subsidiary talent studio Xicoia. It has a vast social media footprint across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok, and also has its own website. Its first moment of mainstream popularity came in July, when Norwood starred in a comedy sketch video on YouTube titled "AI Commissioner". 2. Why is the AI avatar in the news? Last week, at the Zurich Film Festival, Norwood made an appearance on the digital screen, grabbing attention from Hollywood stalwarts. Later, in a panel, Van der Velder told Variety that studios were moving forward with AI projects, and more announcements will come in the next few months. The actor and AI enthusiast also let the media know that Norwood had attracted the interest of several agents, who wanted to work with the AI actress. Speaking with Broadcast International, Van der Velder made a bold prediction and said, "We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we're doing." She also highlighted that economic reasons were pushing the TV and movie business towards AI production. 3. The backlash from Hollywood: The announcement appears to have resulted in a strong negative response from Hollywood, primarily because Particle6 describes Norwood as an "actress" who can replace major stars. Speaking with Variety, actress Emily Blunt said, "That is really, really scary. Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection." 4. Blunt is not the only one to make a public statement about the AI avatar. The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), representing 1,60,000 actors, announcers, and other talents, made a statement opposing Norwood's Hollywood dreams. "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor. It's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers - without permission or compensation," the union reportedly said in a statement, adding, "Creativity is, and should remain, human-centred. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics." 5. The aftermath of the backlash: Van der Velden took to Instagram to share a statement on the criticism of the AI avatar. Highlighting that Norwood is not a replacement for a human being, she said, "I see Al not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool - a new paintbrush. Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, Al offers another way to imagine and build stories. I'm an actor myself, and nothing - certainly not an Al character - can take away the craft or joy of human performance." Has AI Reached the Point of Replacing Humans in Creative Fields? Understanding the arguments of both sides is very important. A pro-AI argument revolves around economic benefits (AI avatars do not charge as much as humans) and exploring new ways of expressing creativity. Van der Velden highlighted in the statement that she views AI-generated projects as a new genre, such as animation. On the flip side, the downside is the eventual replacement of human actors and artists in favour of cheaper AI talents. As SAG-AFTRA highlighted, the reason an AI avatar or the model powering it can be used for acting and similar gigs is that it has been trained on similar data, whether by using fair means or on copyrighted content. Can AI avatars be used for commercial Hollywood projects, and the companies behind them earn from it without paying the actors whose mannerisms and acting data have gone into creating them? These are some of the questions regulators and courts will have to find answers to, in a way that technology does not stifle human creativity or humans do the same to AI. But perhaps the most important question to answer here is, will the end consumer care if an AI-generated actor stars in a movie instead of a real human? The answer to this question would determine the future of AI in creative spaces.

She's an Actor About to Be Signed By a Talent Agency. She's Also AI.

Norwood's creators think the AI actress could be compared to "Scarlett Johansson" soon. There is a lot of talk about AI replacing jobs, but much of it is being done behind the scenes through layoffs and the implementation of new technology. But for some creatives, such as actors, musicians, and writers, the results are way more tangible. Enter Xicoia, an "AI talent studio" and brainchild of actor and producer Eline Van der Velden. The studio's first AI actress, Tilly Norwood, is close to being signed by a talent agent, Van der Velden said earlier this week on a panel at the Zurich Summit. Related: The CEO of the Biggest Employer in the Country Says AI Will Transform 'Literally Every Job' at His Company (and Yours, Too) "When we first launched Tilly, people were like, 'What's that?', and now we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months," she said, per Deadline. Norwood has a large online presence already, with almost 20,000 followers on Instagram, a website, and a Facebook page. Her LinkedIn, however, appears to have been removed. "We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we're doing," Van der Velden told Broadcast International in July. Of course, Norwood's creation is not without backlash. Over the weekend, several actors, including Toni Collette and Lukas Gage, responded negatively to the post. In response, on Instagram, Van der Velden wrote that Tilly is an "act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance." "I see Al not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool - a new paintbrush," Van der Velden said. "Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, Al offers another way to imagine and build stories. It takes time, skill, and iteration to bring such a character to life."

The first AI actor is here, and Hollywood isn't too happy about it: "Read the room"

You read that right: The first AI actor has arrived... and she's already attracting interest from Hollywood talent agencies. Real human actors, of course, aren't too happy about it. Tilly Norwood, an entirely AI-generated actor, was initially unveiled to the world at the Zurich Film Festival. Eline Van der Velden, Dutch founder of AI outfit Particle 6 Productions, announced that Tilly was part of Xicoia, "the world's first artificial intelligence talent studio" (via The Hollywood Reporter). After some reports that Xicoia was seeking representation for Tilly, and that talent agencies were actually interested, several actors took to social media to express their frustrations. "And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn't hire any of them?" Former child actor Mara Wilson wrote in the comment section of an Instagram post shared by Deadline. "Not an actress actually," commented Nicholas Alexander Chavez, star of Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. "Nice try." "Out the agencies. I want names," said Kiersey Clemmons. "Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their ass. How gross, read the room," Melissa Barrera said via Instagram story. Van der Velden has since spoken out, posting a statement to Tilly's official Instagram. "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work, a piece of art," Van der Velden wrote. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity. I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush." You can read the full statement below. It remains to be seen whether AI actors will be "cast" in upcoming films, especially since it's still easy to tell when something or someone is AI-generated. In one of the videos shared to Tilly's Instagram, one of her fingers gradually gets longer as she moves. Can't wait to see her win an Oscar.

Tilly The 'AI Actor' Is Fake, But Her Potential To Harm Women Is Real

There's a new Hollywood newcomer who already has a long list of haters: Tilly Norwood, the AI-generated "actor." Dutch comedian Eline Van der Velden, the head of AI production studio Particle6, which developed Tilly, said she wants the AI character to be the next Scarlett Johansson. But not if the rest of Hollywood has its way. After Van der Velden announced what she calls "the world's first artificial intelligence talent studio" at a film festival and said Tilly had talent agents hoping to sign her, this news of potential representation sparked widespread Hollywood backlash. Multiple actors' unions have released statements condemning Tilly. Actors have also accused Tilly's makers of stealing real people's images to make the AI-generated character. "And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her?" actor Mara Wilson posted on social media. One Nashville-based musician even claims that Tilly is her doppelganger. The company behind Tilly denies that the character was created with stolen images. "Tilly was developed entirely from scratch using original creative design," Particle6 said in a statement to HuffPost. "We do not and will not use any person or performer's likeness without explicit consent and fair compensation." After outcry, Van der Velden said Tilly was "not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art" in a social media statement. But no matter how original or creative you believe Tilly to be, she is definitely drawing from tired old tropes about women and raising unsettling implications for real working people, AI experts caution. Here's what you need to know. For one, Tilly replicates a narrow idea of what generative AI thinks a woman should look like. In a Washington Post investigation of three of the leading AI image tools, the Post found that generative AI thinks beautiful women should look thin, young and white -- which is exactly how Tilly looks. Particle6 did not answer HuffPost's questions about Tilly's appearance. What we see on social media -- including the accounts set up for Tilly on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram -- might have long-term effects on how people view their own real bodies. Safiya Noble, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of the book "Algorithms of Oppression," said Tilly is a continuation of the kind of distortions that social media photo filters cause people. "Those distortions, even though they are seemingly unreal, they circulate so much in our culture that then are celebrated and ... liked and hearted," Noble said. "And that certainly has a psychological and emotional toll on us." A 2022 study on Instagram found that browsing how other people looked on the popular social media platform was linked to "detrimental outcomes" around body dissatisfaction in young women. Above all, Tilly reveals a lot about how corporations value women's work. Alexandra Mateescu, a researcher with Data & Society's Labor Futures program, said what she found most interesting and unsettling about Tilly's existence came from a line in a Particle6 video where she appears in her first role. In an AI-generated comedy sketch from Particle6, Tilly gets cast to be in a TV show. A man then states, "She'll do anything I say; I'm already in love." That line suggests "this vision of this feminine, docile, cute, young actress who won't talk back or complain about working conditions or anything," Mateescu said. That's why, for Mateescu, her biggest worry with Tilly is "more about these kinds of marketing exercises being used as a cudgel, particularly for actors at the bottom of film industry hierarchies, to discourage them from demanding better working conditions under this threat of potentially being replaced." Mateescu said she has seen this power dynamic in other creative industries, like modeling. She recently co-authored a paper on how generative AI is making it easier for companies to use a model's image and measurements and alter them without a model's knowledge or compensation. In her research, "people at the top of the industry, both photographers and top models, they could view AI as this creative tool in their arsenal to be able to enhance their creative practices," Mateescu said. But struggling models doing profit-driven e-commerce catalogs were more negatively impacted. "And I think that's sort of the same pattern we see across industries." In this sense, Tilly might represent a bigger existential threat to vulnerable, newer actors who do not have the same power and networks as A-list stars. In Noble's view, Tilly's existence normalizes "controlling women's images" and the idea that it's OK to "make women do what we want them to do. That culture is prevalent all around us." Tilly is not real, but it's normal if you're confused over what to call her. That might be by design. Noble pointed to the character saying, "I may be AI generated, but I'm feeling very real emotions right now" in a post appearing on her Facebook page as an example of the kind of misrepresentation this AI-generated actor perpetuates. "The more kind of anthropomorphized they are, the more misleading and deceptive they are to the public," Noble said. "This is why these technologies are so incredibly dangerous." One way to resist is to be more careful about how you talk about AI-generated projects like Tilly. Instead of seeing Tilly as an "actor," as her profile describes her, or as the next Scarlett Johansson, as her creator hopes her to be, experts suggest you should see her for what she really is -- a marketing product. That's why Noble suggests against calling Tilly art and instead categorizing Tilly as the latest example of low-quality, spamlike "AI slop." And try to avoid referring to Tilly as an actor. "We should call it 'it,'" Noble said. "We should talk about it like a machine learning model." "The notion of AI personhood is a marketing exercise and a legal maneuver that I don't think we should buy into," Matreescu said. "Tilly is not an actress any more than, like, Sid the sloth from the 'Ice Age' movies is an actor. It's just a digital likeness."

When AI came for Hollywood

Emily Blunt expressed alarm after learning that rising "actress" Tilly Norwood is actually AI. Speaking on a podcast, she called the development terrifying. Created to rival real stars like Scarlett Johansson, Tilly's rise has triggered concern in Hollywood, where many fear losing roles to lifelike digital creations. In the immortal words of Emily Blunt, "Good Lord, we're screwed." She was on a podcast with Variety Monday when she was handed a headline about cinema's latest sensation, Tilly Norwood. Agents are circling the hot property, a fresh-faced young British brunette actress who is attracting global attention. Norwood is AI, and Blunt is PO'd. In fact, she says, she's terrified. Told that Tilly's creator, Eline Van der Velden, a Dutch former actress with a master's in physics, wants her to be the next Scarlett Johansson, Blunt protested, "But we have Scarlett Johansson." (Cue the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" music.) All over Hollywood, actresses are cursing Tilly, her Pygmalion, Van der Velden, and the increasingly withdrawn men who prefer to be turned on by eternally youthful and preternaturally gorgeous AI replicas. (No Botox or Ozempic needed.) And all over Hollywood, suits are licking their chops at the prospect of more malleable actors. "She's not going to talk back," one top talent wrangler said dryly. They may be alarmed by one AI actress now, but as AI expert Nate Soares, a coauthor of the bestseller "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies," explains, "AI is less like one actress and more like a puppeteer behind lots of different characters." Checking out Tilly's image, Blunt was clearly nettled. "That is really, really scary," she told Variety. "Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection." I fear it's too late. Human connections have been eroding for some time. We're all dwelling in Uncanny Valley now, staring into our personal screens, not sure what's real or fake, to the detriment of talking, dating, reading, living. We're getting another jolt about how fast AI is advancing. Just this past week, we've been inundated with racist, juvenile videos posted by Donald Trump, mocking Democratic leaders as the government shut down. The president is wallowing in AI slop. Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, debuted his Sora app, which creates alarmingly realistic videos of fake scenes. It could be TikTok with a lot more disinformation. You can use a text prompt to conjure terrorist attacks, election fraud, mass protests, war scenes and, no doubt, disturbing sexual scenarios. "Increasingly realistic videos are more likely to lead to consequences in the real world by exacerbating conflicts, defrauding consumers, swinging elections or framing people for crimes they did not commit, experts said," The New York Times reported. The app will further erode truth, and comity. This, in a country where the president sets a horrible example promoting false narratives and fake videos, and where nearly two-thirds of voters believe we're too politically divided to solve our problems. Sora will certainly be used by some to justify rejecting real content as fake. "Until recently," the Times story noted, "videos were reasonably reliable as evidence of actual events, even after it became easy to edit photographs and text in realistic ways. Sora's high-quality video, however, raises the risk that viewers will lose all trust in what they see, experts said." Although many in Tinseltown are upset by Tilly and Sora, AI will most likely make swift inroads in a degraded Hollywood. Largely gone are the days of blazing movie stars and prestige mass-appeal movies. (Sydney Sweeney already looks suspiciously like AI.) Now it's Marvel, sequels, adaptations and streaming shows that feel as if they were written by an algorithm for consumption while scrolling on another screen. "I get it even though I don't like it," said Lola Kirke, an actress and author of "Wild West Village," essays about New York and her eccentric and creative family. "It's a business, after all, and they have to keep up with the preferences and demands of the public, who are more used to watching face-tuned influencers lip sync 'Real Housewives of New York' sound bites for 15 seconds than actors telling stories over the course of three acts. Maybe, in some weird way, it will revitalize interest in film and TV? That's me being optimistic -- albeit in a sad way." The less optimistic view was provided by Jaron Lanier, a top scientist at Microsoft. He said that a Hollywood studio chief was crowing about how great AI is because he wouldn't have to pay "all these idiot producers and actors and lighting people and composers and writers and agents." Lanier told him that studio chiefs would quickly become expendable, too, because everyone will serve at the mercy of "the big computer server at the center, and Silicon Valley will just roll right over you." While Lanier thinks a simulated character here and there is fine, he says it's "urgent" to draw the line about "the difference between AI-generated stuff and reality-generated stuff, to have a system in which we know what's real and what's fake." He said: "The problem with it is, if you make the whole world run by fakes and simulations, everybody becomes increasingly more dysfunctional. Everybody becomes alienated and nervous and unsure of their own value, and the whole thing falls apart, and at some point, it's like civilizational and species collapse." That, readers, would be less than ideal. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Who Is Tilly Norwood? Backlash to the AI-Generated Actor, Explained

The AI-generated actor is sparking debate in Hollywood, with Emily Blunt calling Tilly "really, really scary." Tilly Norwood has become one of the most divisive actresses in Hollywood -- and she's not even a human being. The AI-generated actor was created by Eline Van der Velden, a Dutch actor and comedian who said at a tech event on Sept. 27 that a number of talent agents are interested in signing Norwood, according to Deadline. The revelation by Van der Velden has sparked a backlash from Hollywood actors, directors and other creatives. Here's what to know. The world's most controversial actor at the moment is an AI-generated creation of Xicoia, an artificial intelligence talent studio launched by Van der Velden. The Dutch actor said at the Zurich Summit in Switzerland on Sept. 27 that companies are interested in using Norwood. "We were in a lot of boardrooms around February time, and everyone was like, 'No, this is nothing. It's not going to happen'. Then, by May, people were like, 'We need to do something with you guys.' When we first launched Tilly, people were like, 'What's that?' and now we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months," Van der Velden said in her presentation, according to Deadline. Van der Velden then compared her aspirations with the AI-generated actor to real-life actors. "We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we're doing," Van der Velden told the UK's Broadcast International. If a talent agency signs the AI-generated actor, it would make Norwood one of the first to be represented by the talent agents that have always worked with flesh-and-blood actors. Multiple actors and directors have spoken out against the notion of a 100% AI actor. "I don't know how to quite answer it, other than to say how terrifying this is," actor Emily Blunt told Variety. She was then shown an image of Norwood. "No, are you serious? That's an AI?" she said. "Good Lord, we're screwed. That is really, really scary. Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection." "This is literally the mark of the end of the industry as we know it... say goodbye to actors," Oscar-nominated director Luca Guadagnino wrote on X. "No one should be supporting this." Name-checking Johansson as an aspiration for Norwood may have been a particularly sensitive issue. In 2024, Johansson said she hired legal counsel after claiming the company OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, used her voice's likeness without her consent for one of its new AI voice assistants. Johansson's famously smoky voice was used in the 2013 science-fiction movie "Her" to power a fictionalized AI chatbot. OpenAI denied modeling the assistant after Johansson, but ultimately suspended using the voice. The use of artificial intelligence by film studios was also a crucial bargaining point in the actors' strike in 2023. Actors, directors and other creators were concerned their likenesses or voices could be used in films, movies and other creations without their compensation or consent. The SAG-AFTRA union weighed in with a statement after learning about Tilly Norwood. "SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered," the union said. "The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics. "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood" is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation," the statement continued. "It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn't solve any 'problem' -- it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry." Van der Velden responded with a lengthy statement shared on Sept. 28 on Instagram. "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood: she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art," she wrote. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity." "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool -- a new paintbrush," she continued. "Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I'm an actor myself, and nothing -- certainly not an AI character -- can take away the craft or joy of human performance."

Tilly Norwood: how scared should we be of the viral AI 'actor'?

A bunch of code is being pushed as the next Scarlett Johansson, a creation that is already causing pushback from real human actors It takes a lot to be the most controversial figure in Hollywood, especially when Mel Gibson still exists. And yet somehow, in a career yet to even begin, Tilly Norwood has been inundated with scorn. This is for the simple fact that Tilly Norwood does not exist. Despite looking like an uncanny fusion of Gal Gadot, Ana de Armas and High School Musical-era Vanessa Hudgens, Norwood is the creation of an AI talent studio called Xicoia. And if Xicoia is to be believed, then Norwood represents the dazzling future of the film industry. Unveiled this weekend at the Zurich film festival, Norwood has been touted as the next Scarlett Johansson, with studios apparently clamouring to work with her and a talent agency lined up to represent her. Sure, it should also be pointed out that her existence alone is enough to fill the pit of your stomach with a sense of untameable dread for the entire future of humanity, but that's Hollywood for you. The backlash against Norwood so far has come from actors, whose jobs she stands to replace. Scream's Melissa Barrera wrote: "Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$," on her Instagram stories, while Matilda's Mara Wilson wrote: "And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn't hire any of them?". The Fantastic Four's Ralph Ineson was slightly more direct, posting "Fuck off" on X. What's incredible is that Norwood's acting career thus far only comprises a single AI-generated comedy sketch called AI Commissioner. "I may be AI generated, but I'm feeling very real emotions right now," Norwood wrote on her Facebook page on the day it was released. "I am so excited for what's coming next!" However, your reaction to the sketch may vary. While on a purely technical level, it's astonishing to see a number of people who almost look human move around on-screen, it's also pointless and creepy and - most damningly of all - relentlessly unfunny to watch. It's one thing to watch someone whose perfect teeth keep blurring into a single white block in their mouth, but quite another to see them used to deliver sloppily written, woodenly delivered dialogue. Plus it's worth pointing out that, in the two months since it was released, AI Commissioner currently only has about 200,000 views. To pick another video that was released at roughly the same time, this makes it 14 times less successful than Macaulay Culkin's episode of Hot Ones (2.8m views). However, the threat is real. For everyone currently working in the entertainment industry who sees Norwood and her ilk as a substandard replacement, there are countless others on the outside who lack the resources (or, some might argue, the creativity) to make a name for themselves. This is where AI actors, and writers, and directors, come in. In other words, even if it means that the market will soon be flooded by absolute slop, the betting is that she's here to stay. Not to mention that, for some in the Hollywood establishment, Norwood represents the platonic ideal of what an actor should be. Imagine a creation that is completely pliant to the wishes of directors and producers. No ego. No creative input. No huge salary or unattractive ageing to deal with. If it had been Norwood who starred in The Wizard of Oz instead of Judy Garland, then Louis B Mayer wouldn't have needed to put her on a diet of chicken soup, black coffee, weight loss pills and cigarettes. Isn't that the dream? One crumb of consolation is that the people who get to choose whether AI is adopted as a film-making norm are the viewers. As with everything in Hollywood, what will determine Norwood's career above all else is her financial viability. If, as a species, we decide that we want to pay money to be unsettled by a pretty girl who can't decide how many teeth she's supposed to have at any given moment in time, then AI will be with us for generations to come. But we said that 3D was the future of cinema when Avatar first came out a decade and a half ago. It took three bad films to kill that fad dead, so it isn't impossible to imagine the same happening here. Still, the good news is that we know who the next Scarlett Johansson is. And if Hollywood is willing to bank on this being the case, then I'd like to alert it to the existence of Mr Bonkybum, who is a smiley face that I've just drawn on a sock. He's the next Tom Hanks, and he's looking for a big money deal.

Hollywood's first AI actress poised to sign agency deal

Tilly Norward is unlike anyone else. On the surface, she looks like a hardworking actress chasing the Hollywood dream - but she's not real. Within months, she could become the first fully AI-generated movie star to sign a contract. In short, Hollywood may be entering an entirely new era, one that could disrupt the system and turn everything upside down. Behind Tilly stands Eline Van der Velden, the entrepreneur behind projects like Xicoia. Her company is currently in talks with several film and TV agencies regarding the digital performer. According to Van der Velden, the project has been in the works for quite some time but kept under wraps to avoid too much early skepticism. If the deal goes through, Tilly would become one of the first AI actors with official representation, and the ambition is for her to compete with names like Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman. Van der Velden herself describes the journey as a whirlwind, explaining in an interview: "We were in a lot of boardrooms around February time, and everyone was like, 'No, this is nothing. It's not going to happen.' Then, by May, people were like, 'We need to do something with you guys.' When we first launched Tilly, people were like, 'What's that?', and now we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months." Clearly, there's industry interest. But the bigger question is how human actors will react - and how fast such a shift could realistically take place, if at all. Is it ethically justifiable? Who owns the rights to an AI actor's performances? These issues remain unresolved. What's certain is that within a few months, Tilly Norward could very well become Hollywood's first AI-signed actress - and that might mark the beginning of a completely new chapter for the entertainment world.

Hollywood Is Fuming Over The Industry's First 'AI Actor'

"Any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds," wrote Natasha Lyonne on Instagram. The "Russian Doll" star is directing a feature titled "Uncanny Valley" that pledges to use "ethical" artificial intelligence in combination with traditional filmmaking techniques. "Deeply misguided & totally disturbed," she added. "Not the way. Not the vibe. Not the use." Artificial intelligence is often used as a tool in film production, though its implementation is hotly debated. It was a major bargaining point in the lengthy strike by SAG-AFTRA that concluded in late 2023 with some safeguards put in place to protect the use of actors' likenesses and performances by AI. A yearlong strike by video game actors hinged on AI protections. In July, video game actors approved a new contract that mandates employers obtain written permission to create a digital replica.

Who is Tilly Norwood, AI actress coming to Hollywood? Here's who is creater, studio promoting actor, all about entertainment industry backlash

Who is Tilly Norwood, AI actress coming to Hollywood? The digital performer developed by Xicoia has attracted agency interest, sparked backlash from Hollywood actors, and raised questions about AI in entertainment. Who is Tilly Norwood, AI actress coming to Hollywood? The digital performer created by AI talent studio Xicoia has sparked wide debate in the entertainment industry. The character is being considered for agency representation, which would make her among the first AI-generated performers to receive professional contracts. Tilly Norwood is the creation of actress and technologist Eline Van der Velden. Her AI studio Xicoia, a spin-off from Van der Velden's AI production company Particle6, launched the project to explore digital talent in film and television. At the Zurich Summit, Van der Velden revealed that agents were already in talks to represent Norwood, with an announcement expected in the coming months. Norwood made her debut in a comedy sketch titled AI Commissioner, which imagines future television development. She even announced her role on Facebook, saying, "Can't believe it... my first ever role is live! I star in AI Commissioner." Also Read: Starbucks protein coffee menu launches with new lattes and cold foam options. Here's all details The possibility of Norwood receiving professional representation has triggered strong reactions from actors. Melissa Barrera, known for In the Heights, posted on Instagram Stories urging actors to drop any agent that signs Norwood. Kiersey Clemons demanded that the agencies involved be named. Mara Wilson, the star of Matilda, criticized the project by pointing out that hundreds of real women's faces were used to design Norwood but none were given opportunities. Toni Collette responded with a string of screaming emojis, while Lukas Gage jokingly posted that Norwood was difficult to work with. In response to the backlash, Van der Velden defended the AI character. She stated that Tilly Norwood is not a replacement for humans but a creative work. She compared her to earlier innovations like animation, puppetry, and CGI, which expanded storytelling without ending live acting. Van der Velden emphasized that AI is a tool, not a competitor. She described Norwood as a "piece of art" meant to inspire conversation about creativity. She also stated that as an actor herself, she knows AI cannot replace the craft and joy of live human performance. Also Read: Secret Service SUV catches fire outside White House. Flames erupted near back seat and how did it happen? Speculation explained, eyewitness reports, official statement Artificial intelligence has been applied in entertainment before, but mostly for limited purposes. Studios have used AI to de-age actors, recreate the voices of deceased performers, and generate trailers. However, the introduction of an AI actress like Tilly Norwood represents a new phase where digital performers could play full roles in productions. Van der Velden has expressed ambitions for Norwood to become as recognizable as established Hollywood stars such as Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman. If Norwood secures an agency deal, she would be the first AI actress to enter the mainstream representation system, raising new questions for talent management and unions. Despite the protests, Xicoia remains committed to moving forward with Norwood. An official announcement about which agency will represent her is expected soon. This development could mark a turning point in how Hollywood views artificial intelligence as part of the talent pool. The debate continues over whether digital performers like Tilly Norwood are artistic tools or potential threats to human actors. The outcome of her representation deal may set the tone for the future of AI in the film industry. Tilly Norwood is a digital performer created by AI studio Xicoia. She is being considered for professional representation, which could make her one of the first AI actresses in Hollywood. Actors are protesting because they fear AI performers may reduce opportunities for human talent. Critics argue that real actors should be prioritized instead of promoting digital characters created through artificial intelligence.

AI-Generated Actress Tilly Norwood Slammed by Canadian Performers Union as "Nothing But Lines of Code"

Tribeca Festival Lisboa 2025 Sets 'Bugonia,' 'Nuremberg' Screenings ACTRA, the Canadian union representing actors, has slammed the controversial artificial intelligence-generated Tilly Norwood creation as "synthetic competition." "'Tilly's' existence is nothing but lines of code, wrongfully based and programmed from actual human performance. There is no place in our industry, and no use in the humanity of art, for replacing performers with synthetics. ACTRA rejects any attempt to do so," Marie Kelly, ACTRA national executive director and chief negotiator, told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement on Thursday. Kelly knows her way around AI deployment in the entertainment industry and its implications for her membership's careers and ambitions after getting new protections against AI misuse into the latest Independent Production Agreement, a labor contract between Canadian actors and North American producers. The latest IPA deal came into effect in January 2025. "Performers are concerned about their craft, their place in the world of entertainment and their livelihoods. They have always competed against thousands of other performers for work but are now faced with synthetic competition. Aside from the fact that the synthetic 'performer' doesn't eat, consume goods, pay taxes or otherwise contribute to our society, they don't engage audiences using human creativity," Kelly added. She weighed in after Norwood's creator, Eline Van der Velden of AI production outfit Particle6, told the Zurich Film Festival she was talking to Hollywood talent agencies about securing representation for the "actress." The Dutch comedian and content producer unveiled her Tilly Norwood computer-generated creation with a dedicated Instagram page. "This must serve as a wake-up call for the Canadian government on the growing threat of AI," Kelly added. "We are not against AI and its technical potential, including in our industry, but the very real and negative impacts must be addressed and protected against. This technology is growing ever-stronger and doing so at exponential speed. Performers may be the canary in the coalmine, but if strong laws around AI -- especially moral rights -- are not passed now, it may soon be too late to act for all society." Earlier, SAG-AFTRA in its own statement said the American union was "opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics" as the issue of generative AI video looms large in an industry where efforts to reduce production costs after the Peak TV era went bust are balanced by fears of AI use as a job killer. And U.K. acting union Equity also condemned Norwood. "Tilly is not an actress. She is an AI tool. Or it is an AI tool. That's not a performer," the company's audio and new media organizer Shannon Sailing told BBC's Radio 4 in a clip posted to Equity's Instagram. "But what that tool is is made up of performers' work and we are concerned about where that work has come from, and if that's been given consent to be used in that way." The industry uproar over Norwood comes as Hollywood grapples with the increasing intersection of AI and film and TV production. The looming threat of AI has continued to panic the film and TV industry, and regulations around the craft became a linchpin clause through the SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. Though AI's use in the industry already spans myriad visual effects tools, many still worry that AI could, one day, replace actors -- or at least illegally use their likeness. Hollywood has already tested AI waters with the de-aging of certain actors or generating complex visual effects in film and TV series.

Creator of AI actress responds following backlash over agency interest

You might not be familiar with the name Tilly Norwood. "Is that even a real person?" you ask. No, it isn't. Tilly is the creation of AI production company Particle 6, helmed by actress, comedian, and CEO Eline Van der Velden. Over the weekend, it was reported that multiple Hollywood talent agencies were interested in signing Tilly Norwood. Now, as per Deadline, her creator has responded to the backlash those reports garnered. "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work - a piece of art. Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity," Van der Velden said. "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush. Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I'm an actor myself, and nothing - certainly not an AI character - can take away the craft or joy of human performance." While Van der Velden might make her argument clear, it's unlikely to sway the anti-AI crowd. As AI tries to encroach into Hollywood and other media, plenty of creators aren't convinced it can do as good of a job as a human, and worry for the future as big companies try to cut costs with AI.

Tilly Norwood is an AI actress, and we're all now living in a Black Mirror hellscape

Unless creatives start to fight back, we're all getting replaced. Remember when Black Mirror felt like sci-fi? When you'd watch an episode about people rating each other on apps, or politicians having sex with pigs, and you'd think, "Thank goodness none of that was real"? Well, have I got news for you. We've officially caught up with writer Charlie Brooker's nightmares. And increasingly, we seem to be overtaking them. Last weekend at the Zurich Film Festival, Eline Van der Velden - the founder of Particle 6 Productions - announced her "AI-generated actress", Tilly Norwood, is about to "sign with" a Hollywood talent agency. Not a real person. An algorithm in a frock. And multiple agencies are apparently competing for the privilege. (This is not an example of using AI properly - but here are some tips for doing so) Let me repeat that, so it sinks in. Hollywood talent agents, actual human beings whose job it is to represent actual human beings, are falling over themselves to sign a computer program. Tilly Norwood has an Insta account. She has a showreel. She's made her "acting debut" in a comedy sketch. And if Van der Velden gets her way, she'll be "the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman". But here's where it gets properly weird, where the creative world starts eating its own tail. Norwood's debut was in a parody sketch called "AI Commissioner," which imagines a dystopian future where formats write themselves and creative decisions are made by machine learning models. It's meant to be satire. The problem is, it's not satire. It can't be satire. It's the actual thing. And it's way more convincing than the AI failures in these ads - this looks real. I've watched this sketch three times, and each viewing has left me more confused than the last. My brain keeps trying to find the joke, the wink to camera, the moment where the artifice is revealed and we can all have a good laugh. But that moment never comes. Because there is no wink. The sketch features an AI actress warning us about AI actresses. It's like watching a recording of someone warning you that recordings aren't real. This is what it feels like when reality stops making sense. When I first started working in the creative industries, the fundamentals seemed solid. You needed talent, you needed training, you needed to put in the hours. You needed to be, you know, an actual person. Those weren't just conventions; they felt like laws of nature, as irreversible as gravity. Now? Now I'm watching an algorithm play-act at being human whilst simultaneously commenting on the dangers of algorithms play-acting at being human. And I'm supposed to... what, exactly? Applaud? I suspect this cognitive whiplash is going to become increasingly common. Not just for 1970s-born dinosaurs like me, but for everyone. Increasingly, I predict the ground will start shifting beneath our feet, until the very concepts of "ground" and "feet" become debatable. Yesterday's satire is today's pitch meeting. Today's "just exploring the tech" is tomorrow's standard practice. So what are we supposed to do with all this? Just watch AI kill the other creative industries as it's already killing music? Make no mistake: if AI actors gain traction, they're coming for writers next. Then directors. Then producers. Then the entire apparatus of creative production will be up for grabs. Eline Van der Velden insists that AI is "just another tool - a new paintbrush". But a paintbrush doesn't replace the painter. It doesn't have an Instagram account or a talent agent. A tool extends human capability; it doesn't simulate human existence and then compete with us for work. The real problem here isn't ultimately tech, of course; it's economics. Studios are embracing AI because they've always wanted to eliminate the most expensive and troublesome element of production: us. Humans want fair pay. We get tired. We have opinions. We form unions. An AI actor is the ultimate scab; never late, never argumentative, never asking for a pay rise, and available for infinite sequels. So how do we fight back? Well, one thing we can do is make the cost of using AI so high (reputationally, legally, ethically), that it's not worth the cost savings. We can refuse to work alongside AI replacements. We can name and shame the agencies that represent them. We can support unions that draw hard lines in the sand. And we can make sure that when our work is used to train these systems, we get compensated fairly. And if we don't? We'll wake up one morning and discover that the entire creative economy has been replaced by algorithms wearing our faces, whilst we watch from the sidelines wondering how it all happened so quickly.

Tilly Norwood Is "an AI Tool, Not a Performer" Says U.K. Acting Union Equity: "We Are Concerned About Where That Work Has Come From"

'Carol' Producer Elizabeth Karlsen, 'BLKNWS' Director Kahlil Joseph to Serve on BFI London Film Festival Competition Jury U.K. acting union Equity has joined the chorus of critics slamming the creation of a computer-generated actress named Tilly Norwood, which has the film and TV industry in uproar. Earlier in the week, U.S. labor union SAG-AFTRA weighed in on the debate after Norwood's creator, Eline Van der Velden of AI production outfit Particle6, claimed talent agencies were circling the "actress." She was forced to defend the project after announcing the launch of the "world's first AI talent studio," Xicoia, at Zurich Film Festival, maintaining Norwood is "not a replacement for a human being." SAG-AFTRA said in a statement: "The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics. To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation... It doesn't solve any 'problem' -- it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry." Now, executives in charge of the British union Equity have also condemned Van der Velden's creation, calling into question just how Norwood was built and from what source material she's derived. "Tilly is not an actress. She is an AI tool. Or it is in AI tool. That's not a performer," the company's audio and new media organizer Shannon Sailing told BBC's Radio 4 in a clip posted to Equity's Instagram. "But what that tool is is made up of performers' work and we are concerned about where that work has come from, and if that's been given consent to be used in that way." Equity's general secretary Paul Fleming told Sky News on Thursday: "A computer program has created something fundamentally disconnected from the work of acting, the craft of acting -- but also the soul of a human being." "We're at the stage in AI where so much data has been used that the original source becomes more and more unclear," Fleming continued, "and that's something that should worry every viewer, every working person, because that's not really the way our data should be being used." He added that the union have been looking at using GDPR data protection regulations "to make demands of companies to find out where the data that goes into these creatures comes from to make sure that there isn't an abuse of our members work." In an official statement on the union's website, Equity said it is demanding minimum standards in relation to use of AI across the film and television industry. "Alongside these critical negotiations, we continue to lobby the U.K. government to strengthen performers rights so that all artists are protected, including those in other sectors who do not benefit from the safeguards of union contracts." "Technological advancements must not come at the expense of those who bring art to life," the statement ended. The looming threat of AI has continued to panic Hollywood with Norwood now an emblem of that fear. Regulations around the use of AI tools in film and TV were front and center throughout the SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. Among the celebrities to deplore the news of Norwood being signed to an agency are Emily Blunt, Toni Colette, Melissa Barrera, Natasha Lyonne and Whoopi Goldberg. Van der Velden defended her business on Sunday via Instagram, saying: "I see AI not as a replacement for people but as a new tool, a new paintbrush." She wrote: "Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories ... Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance."

'AI actor' Tilly Norwood stirs outrage in Hollywood

NEW YORK -- Like thousands of actors, Tilly Norwood is looking for a Hollywood agent. But unlike most young performers aspiring to make it in the film industry, Tilly Norwood is an entirely artificial intelligence-made character. Norwood, dubbed Hollywood's first "AI actor," is the product of a company named Xicoia, which bills itself as the world's first artificial intelligence talent studio. Since the Dutch producer and comedian Eline Van der Velden launched the digital character's prospective career, Tilly Norwood has been all the talk in Hollywood. But not in a good way. Guilds, actors and filmmakers have met the Xicoia product with an immediate wave of backlash, protesting that artificial intelligence should not have a starring role in the acting profession. In a statement Tuesday, the Screen Actors Guild said that "creativity is, and should remain, human-centered." "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation," the guild said. "It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience." Van der Velden, founder of the AI production studio Particle6, last weekend promoted Tilly Norwood at the Zurich Summit, the industry sidebar of the Zurich Film Festival. She said then that talent agencies were circling Norwood and that she expected to soon announce a signing. Many in Hollywood, though, hope that never happens. "Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$," wrote actor Melissa Barrera ("In the Heights," "Scream") on social media. "How gross, read the room." "Any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds," wrote Natasha Lyonne on Instagram. The "Russian Doll" star is directing a feature titled "Uncanny Valley" that pledges to use "ethical" artificial intelligence in combination with traditional filmmaking techniques. "Deeply misguided & totally disturbed," she added. "Not the way. Not he vibe. Not the use." Artificial intelligence is often used as a tool in film production, though its implementation is hotly debated. It was a major bargaining point in the lengthy strike by SAG-AFTRA that concluded in late 2023 with some safeguards put in place to protect the use of actors' likenesses and performances by AI. A yearlong strike by video game actors hinged on AI protections. In July, video game actors approved a new contract that mandates employers obtain written permission to create a digital replica. But there have been numerous controversies over the use of AI in acting. The Oscar-winning 2024 film "The Brutalist" used artificial intelligence for Hungarian dialogue spoken by Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones' characters, the revelation of which prompted debate in the industry. Van der Velden responded to the stir around Tilly Norwood on Instagram. "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art," Van der Velden said on Sunday. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity." Van der Velden didn't respond to interview requests Tuesday. In her post, she argued that AI characters should be judged as their own genre. "Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance," she added. "It takes time, skill and iteration to bring such a character to life." That statement was also shared on Tilly Norwood's own Instagram account. Posts include photos of the creation drinking coffee, shopping for clothes and preparing for various projects. As of Tuesday, the account had more than 33,000 followers. "Had such a blast filming some screen tests recently," one post reads. "Every day feels like a step closer to the big screen."

SAG-AFTRA Slams AI Actress: "Tilly Norwood Is Not an Actor -- It Has No Life Experience to Draw From, No Emotion"

Netflix Sets Swedish Crime Drama 'The Case' From 'Lupin' and 'Hijack' Creator George Kay SAG-AFTRA has slammed a newly-launched AI talent studio in a statement released Tuesday, saying: "Creativity is, and should remain, human-centered." Over the weekend, the creator of the computer-generated actress Tilly Norwood responded to critics after news broke that her studio was looking to get Norwood representation. Eline Van der Velden, Dutch founder of AI outfit Particle 6 Productions, announced at Zurich Film Festival the launch of Xicoia, "the world's first artificial intelligence talent studio." She was met with outrage, however, and later said in an Instagram post: "She is not a replacement for a human being." SAG-AFTRA, the U.S. labor union that represents actors and other talent, has now weighed in via a statement: "The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics." "To be clear, "Tilly Norwood" is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation," said SAG-AFTRA. "It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn't solve any 'problem' -- it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry." "Additionally," the statement continued, "signatory producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used." The looming threat of AI has continued to panic the film and TV industry, and regulations around the craft became a linchpin clause through the SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. Though AI's use in the industry already spans a myriad of visual effects tools, many still worry that AI could, one day, replace actors -- or at least illegally use their likeness. Melissa Barrera, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Lukas Gage, Mara Wilson and Toni Colette were among the stars condemning the news of Norwood's possible signing. Van der Velden defended her business on Sunday, saying: "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush. She said: "Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I'm an actor myself, and nothing -- certainly not an AI character -- can take away the craft or joy of human performance.... Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance."

SAG-AFTRA Hits Out at Tilly Norwood, the AI-Generated 'Actress' That Has Enraged Hollywood - IGN

SAG-AFTRA has issued a strongly worded statement in response to the emergence of Tilly Norwood, the AI-generated "actress" that has enraged Hollywood. Tilly Norwood is a viral AI-generated creation pushed as the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman. It was created by Eline Van der Velden, the Dutch founder of AI company Particle 6 Productions. Van der Velden sparked a backlash after announcing new talent studio Xicoia, which Deadline reported was already in talks with a number of talent agents interested in signing Tilly Norwood. The Hollywood community was quick to condemn Tilly Norwood and its creators, as well as warn producers against dealing with it. Scream's Melissa Barrera wrote: "Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$. How gross, read the room." Matilda's Mara Wilson said: "Shame on these people. They have stolen the faces of hundreds of young women to make this AI 'actress.' They're not creators. They're identity thieves." The Fantastic Four's Ralph Ineson, who played Galactus in the MCU movie, was more direct, posting "F*** off" on X / Twitter. Now, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has released a statement, warning producers against using "synthetic performers" without complying with its contractual obligations. Here's SAG-AFTRA's statement in full: SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics. To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation. It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn't solve any 'problem' -- it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry. Additionally, signatory producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used. Norwood's "acting career" thus far only comprises the showreel above and a single AI-generated comedy sketch called AI Commissioner, below. "I may be AI generated, but I'm feeling very real emotions right now," a post on the Tilly Norwood X / Twitter page said on the day it was released. "I am so excited for what's coming next!" Creator Van der Velden addressed the backlash to insist Tilly Norwood "is not a replacement for a human being." "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood: she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art," Van der Velden said in a post released on the Tilly Norwood social media pages. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity. "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush. Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I'm an actor myself, and nothing -- certainly not an AI character -- can take away the craft or joy of human performance. "Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance. It takes time, skill, and iteration to bring such a character to life. She represents experimentation, not substitution. Much of my work has always been about holding up a mirror to society through satire, and this is no different." Van der Velden soft-launched Tilly earlier this year, creating accounts for the character on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, complete with AI-generated selfies of Tilly alongside captions like "Hey besties." "We were in a lot of boardrooms around February time, and everyone was like, 'No, this is nothing. It's not going to happen.'" Van der Velden said on a panel at the Zurich Summit reported on by Deadline. "Then, by May, people were like, 'We need to do something with you guys.' When we first launched Tilly, people were like, 'What's that?' and now we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months." Speaking to Broadcast International in July, Van der Velden said she wanted Tilly Norwood "to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman." Image credit: Particle6 TV / YouTube.

Creator of AI Actress Tilly Norwood Responds to Backlash: "She Is Not a Replacement for a Human Being"

Jennifer Lawrence Says "Maybe We're All More Connected Than It Seems" as She Becomes San Sebastian's Youngest Donostia Award Recipient The creator of AI actress Tilly Norwood has responded to critics following fierce backlash, telling social media users: "She is not a replacement for a human being." Eline Van der Velden, Dutch founder of AI outfit Particle 6 Productions, announced at Zurich Film Festival the launch of Xicoia, "the world's first artificial intelligence talent studio." She has now responded via Instagram in a statement also shared to Norwood's account, after movie fans and celebrities reacted with outrage to the news that the studio was looking to get the artificially generated actress representation. "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art," said Van der Velden on Sunday. "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity." "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush," she continued. "Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I'm an actor myself, and nothing -- certainly not an AI character -- can take away the craft or joy of human performance... Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a poerformance." Van der Velden, who wants to announce Norwood's agency in the coming months, also said she believes AI characters "should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors." Over the weekend, a host of actors responded to the news that agencies were circling Norwood. The threat of AI has long haunted industry creatives, and regulations around the craft became a linchpin clause through the SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. Notable uses of AI in film and television include the de-aging of certain actors or generating complex visual effects, but fears concerning AI's ability to replace actors -- or illegally use their likeness -- have continued to creep up on Hollywood. Melissa Barrera, star of In the Heights and the Scream franchise, wrote: "Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$. How gross, read the room," while Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story's Nicholas Alexander Chavez said: "Not an actress actually nice try." Elsewhere, Lukas Gage poked fun at Norwood. "She was a nightmare to work with!!!!" the actor wrote. Toni Colette simply posted a string of screaming emojis, and Matilda's Mara Wilson said on Instagram: "Shame on these people. They have stolen the faces of hundreds of young women to make this AI 'actress.' They're not creators. They're identity thieves."