AI actress Tilly Norwood unsettles Hollywood: What you need to know

The recent discovery of Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated actress, has joined the list of the most unsettling tech creations from the contemporary era.

Introduced to the world at last Saturday’s Zurich Summit, Norwood’s existence sent shockwaves among the entertainment community. And if that wasn’t enough, its creator revealed that the AI model is already in talks with several studios and media companies, “and to expect public announcements about high profile projects using the technology in the coming months”, per Deadline.

Between the industry’s collective outrage and Norwood’s defence from its creator, a lot has gown down since the model’s emergence.

Meet Tilly Norwood

Created by actor and comedian technologist Eline Van der Velden for AI talent studio Xicoia, Tilly Norwood’s design is aimed towards securing talent representation from agencies “traditionally working with real life stars”.

Norwood’s professional credentials so far include just one AI-generated comedy sketch released by AI production studio Particle6 and titled AI Commissioner.

Backlash

Rather unsurprisingly, Tilly Norwood’s discovery caused a huge uproar among its very real counterparts.

Besides the concerning implications of forcing actual performers out of work, the aspect of stealing facial features from existing humans was also among the notable protestations.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG -AFTRA) issued a strongly worded statement regarding the subject at hand.

“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,” part of the organisation’s lengthy statement read.

Emily Blunt said on Variety’s podcast, “That is really, really scary. Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection.”

While former child actor, now author, Mara Wilson posed the question, “What about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?”

Response

Meanwhile, Tilly Norwood’s developer is sticking by her creation.

“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 online.

The Dutch creator further likened her work to other forms of creative expression.

“I hope we can welcome AI as part of the wider artistic family; one more way to express ourselves, alongside theatre, film, painting, music, and countless others. When we celebrate all forms of creativity, we open doors to new voices, new stories, and new ways of connecting with each other,” concluded Eline Van der Velden’s statement.