An “AI actor” named Tilly Norwood has ignited fury across Hollywood, with A-list stars and the powerful actors union condemning the synthetic performer as a threat to human artistry and livelihoods, per bbc.com.
Tilly Norwood, a digital creation by Dutch actor and comedian Eline Van der Velden, is reportedly in talks with talent agencies, despite fierce backlash from the industry. Norwood’s polished social media presence, featuring photos and an AI-generated comedy sketch, has been described by its creators as having “girl next door vibes.”
“I may be AI, but I’m feeling very real emotions right now,” Tilly’s creators posted on her page, expressing excitement for the future.
However, Hollywood is decidedly unenthusiastic.
Oscar-nominated actress Emily Blunt called the creation “really, really scary.” Speaking on a podcast, Blunt said, “That’s an AI? Good Lord, we’re screwed… Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection.”
Actress and filmmaker Natasha Lyonne urged for a complete boycott. “Any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds,” said Lyonne, known for Poker Face and Orange Is the New Black. She called the creation “Deeply misguided & totally disturbed.”
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), the industry’s powerful actors union, issued a strong condemnation, reminding studios and agencies that using Norwood could violate contractual protections secured after the lengthy 2023 strikes.
“Norwood is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers,” the union stated. “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 stressed that AI actors don’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.”
Tilly Norwood was created by Van der Velden, who reportedly stated she wanted Norwood to become the “next Scarlett Johansson.” Van der Velden and her company, Particle6, have not backed down amid the industry outrage.
The Dutch creator took to Tilly’s Instagram page to defend the work, arguing the AI is “not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work – a piece of art.”
“Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance,” Van der Velden wrote, suggesting such creations should be judged “as part of their own genre” rather than compared to human actors.
Van der Velden recently discussed her AI production studio and her new AI talent agency, Xicoia, at a summit in Zurich, suggesting that some Hollywood studios and agencies are quietly embracing AI. She told attendees to expect public announcements about high-profile projects using the technology in the coming months.
The rise of the AI actor comes just two years after major labor strikes shut down Hollywood as writers and actors demanded protections from the rapid encroachment of artificial intelligence.
Comedian and actress Whoopi Goldberg, speaking on The View, expressed skepticism that AI creations would steal jobs, arguing that audiences can spot the difference between humans and synthetic performers. “They move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently,” she said.
•Featured image: Emily Blunt/Getty Images
