Tilly Norwood is a London-based actress with about 40,000 Instagram followers. She is also 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 found out about Norwood while recording a podcast with Variety. She is known for her roles in films like The Devil Wears Prada, A Quiet Place, and Oppenheimer. Blunt told Variety that the concept was scary and pleaded with agencies to stop, expressing concern that it takes away human connection.
SAG-AFTRA, the union representing entertainment and media professionals, released a statement in opposition to synthetic performers like Norwood. The union stated that Tilly Norwood is not an actor but a character generated by a computer program trained on the work of countless professional performers without permission or compensation. They emphasized that it has no life experience or emotion and that audiences are not interested in computer-generated content untethered from human experience. They view it as a problem that uses stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.
Due to the backlash, Van der Velden wrote a response post on the Tilly Norwood Instagram account. In it, she wrote that Norwood is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work and a piece of art. She stated that like many forms of art before her, Norwood sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity.
But actual human actors have been wary of the implications of AI that can create believable videos, something that has become even more real with OpenAI’s release of Sora 2. This is why organizations like SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America have advocated for contractual protections against being replaced by AI. SAG-AFTRA wrote that producers should be aware they may not use synthetic performers without complying with contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used.