Tilly Norwood: Hollywood’s First AI Actress
Photo Credit: Xicioa via The Deadline
Tilly Norwood, the first AI actress, set the internet into flames with her controversial emergence into the acting industry.
She is the initial artificial intelligence (AI) creation of Xicoia, a new AI talent studio being launched alongside an AI production company, Particle6. Xicoia first brought Norwood into the public eye when they launched her personal Instagram account in February, which only had AI-generated photos of her. The account humanizes her with casual captions that imply she has ordinary human thoughts and past experiences. For instance, a post of her waving at the camera is captioned with the line “waving like I haven't just spiralled over something I said in 2016. Hi besties x.”
On Sept. 27, Norwood skyrocketed into fame when Xicoia CEO Eline Van Der Velden, the founder of Particle6, talked about Tilly's development on a panel at the Zurich Summit, a segment of the annual Zurich film festival in Switzerland. At the summit, Van der Velden suggested that production studios and media entertainment companies were quietly embracing AI under the radar. Moreover, she said to expect announcements about high-profile AI projects in the coming months.
According to CBC News, Velden has spoken with multiple entertainment companies that are interested in signing deals with her. “We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we are doing,” Van der Velden told Broadcast International in July.
However, many actors have expressed concern about the emergence of AI acting in the TV production industry.
“That is really, really scary,” actress Emily Blunt told Variety after seeing Norwood's image. “Come on agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection.”
“It's got a Bette Davis attitude, it's got Humphrey Bogart's lips […] and so it's a little bit of an unfair advantage,” said actress Whoopi Goldberg on The View. “But you what? Bring it on. Because you can always tell them from us.”
Similarly, SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents working actors in the US, denied the idea that Norwood can ever be classified as an actor in an Instagram story. ”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 stated.
While some find this step forward in technology frightening and uncanny, others think it could bring new interest and excitement into the entertainment industry.
As Van Der Velden said on an Instagram post, “Tilly Norwood is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work.”
However, some are voicing concern over ethical implications arising from the use of AI to replace human actors. Plagiarism concerns are especially prevalent, as artificial actors draw inspiration from human actors' performances without proper consent, critics say.
“Tilly Norwood is a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers without permission or compensation,” SAG-AFTRA shared in a statement on Instagram. “It doesn’t solve any ‘problem’ – it creates the problem of using stolen performances, to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performers' livelihoods, and devaluing human artistry.”
AI has been an extremely controversial topic in the past few years, acting as a key reason for the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that shut down the industry, as actors and writers fought for protection from the potential losses they may face from AI technologies.