Tilly Norwood: Hollywood’s New AI-Generated "Actress"
Sofia Sklar ‘27
As the line blurs between what is real and what is fake, there has been a disturbing new development in the world of theatre as the world’s first AI-generated “actress” is signed to a talent agency.
No, that is not the plotline to a new dystopian novel. That is our current reality. Tilly Norwood, represented by Xicoia Talent, is the “hot new bombshell” entering the film industry. But its mere existence sparks concerning ethical debates, as well as serving as a sign of worse to come, and potentially, the death of the film industry at the hands of AI-generated content.
Actual actors have been reacting to the news exactly how you might imagine: outrage. There is no shortage of actors who are willing to perform. SAG-AFTRA, one of the largest performer unions in the world, released a statement on this “performer,” and what they have to say is truly enlightening.
“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.” (SAG-AFTRA).
There is something to be said, firstly, about the fact that Tilly has been generated to look like a young female. In an industry that already profits so heavily off the manipulation and discomfort of young women, it is concerning to see a model designed without the ability to say “no.” There are so many young actresses and actors who are pressured into scenes. However, Tilly Norwood can be placed into any scene – no matter how uncomfortable or grotesque. It cannot say “no,” no matter what the content is; its programming forbids that. While there is only one AI-generated “actress” that we know of now, the stage has been set. How long will it take before AI-generated children are utilized in order to get around child labor laws? Or before the faces of random people are added in as extras?
On the matter of faces, it is a well-known fact that AI cannot generate new faces, which means that this robot is wearing the face of a real person who is actually living their life off of the television screen. This person has not been properly compensated, and has essentially had their face stolen for whatever a director wishes to place them into.
Acting – and art as a whole – comes from the human experience, which cannot be AI-generated. A computer cannot feel despair, or joy, or anything else that fuels artistry. Although Tilly can be placed into scenes and “say” lines, it lacks what makes art so special. If Hollywood tolerates this corruption of cinema, it is likely that the industry will begin to crumble as films begin to lack soul. An AI-generated script cannot create the same magic that people can, nor can an AI-actress display the same emotions as real people.