The unveiling of Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated actor, has ignited a fierce debate in Hollywood, sparking anger and raising fundamental questions about the future of the acting profession. Created by Dutch producer and comedian Eline Van der Velden and her AI talent studio Xicoia, Tilly Norwood is being touted as the "world's first AI actress". This has triggered a wave of backlash from actors, guilds, and filmmakers who fear the encroachment of artificial intelligence into their industry.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), the union representing thousands of actors and performers, has issued a strong statement opposing the replacement of human performers with synthetics. They emphasize that creativity should remain human-centered. SAG-AFTRA argues that Tilly Norwood is not an actor but a computer program trained on the work of countless professional performers without permission or compensation. The union contends that AI actors lack life experience, emotion, and the ability to connect with audiences in a meaningful way.
Numerous actors have voiced their concerns and disapproval of AI actors. Melissa Barrera expressed her hope that agents who represent AI actors would be dropped by all their clients. Natasha Lyonne called for a boycott of any talent agency that engages with AI actors. Emily Blunt described the prospect of AI actors as "really, really scary," urging agencies to stop "taking away our human connection". Whoopi Goldberg acknowledged that while AI might have an "unfair advantage" by potentially being generated with the traits of thousands of other actors, audiences will always be able to distinguish between human and synthetic creations.
Van der Velden has defended her creation, stating that Tilly Norwood is not intended to replace human actors but is a "creative work" and a "piece of art". She compares AI actors to animation, puppetry, or CGI, suggesting that they offer another way to imagine and build stories. Van der Velden argues that AI characters should be judged as a separate genre rather than being directly compared to human actors.
The controversy surrounding Tilly Norwood raises several critical issues. One concern is whether the datasets used to train AI actors are composed of real actors' likenesses borrowed without permission, potentially leading to copyright and consent issues. Some argue that using AI to create actors is essentially building a digital composite based on the uncredited and uncompensated labor of human performers.
The arrival of Tilly Norwood has intensified existing anxieties within the entertainment industry, which is still recovering from pandemic shutdowns, strikes, and evolving business models. The prospect of AI encroaching on already limited job opportunities has been described as adding "salt in the wound".
While some experts believe that AI actors are inevitable, the strong reactions from Hollywood suggest that the industry is not yet ready to embrace them fully. The debate over Tilly Norwood underscores the broader concerns about the role of AI in the workplace and its potential impact on human jobs and artistry. It remains to be seen how this controversy will shape the future of acting and the entertainment industry as a whole.
