Like many aspiring performers, Tilly Norwood is searching for a Hollywood agent.
But unlike most hopefuls trying to break into the film industry, Norwood isn’t human at all — she’s a fully AI-generated character.
Billed as Hollywood’s first “AI actor,” Norwood was created by Xicoia, a company that describes itself as the world’s first artificial intelligence talent studio.
An AI-generated image of “actor” Tilly Norwood, seated in a coffee shop, was recently shared on social media.
Since Dutch producer and comedian Eline Van der Velden introduced the digital performer to Hollywood, Norwood has sparked intense conversation — but not the kind most debut actors hope for.
Guilds, actors, and filmmakers have responded with swift backlash, arguing that artificial intelligence has no place in front of the camera.
In a statement Tuesday, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) stressed that “creativity is, and should remain, human-centered.” The guild added: “To be clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a computer-generated character trained on the work of countless professionals — without permission or compensation. It has no lived experience, no genuine emotion, and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in content divorced from the human experience.”
Van der Velden, founder of the AI production studio Particle6, promoted Norwood last weekend at the Zurich Summit, a sidebar of the Zurich Film Festival. She suggested that talent agencies were already expressing interest and predicted an imminent signing.
But many in Hollywood are hoping otherwise.
Actor Melissa Barrera (“In the Heights,” “Scream”) wrote on social media: “Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this drop their a$$. How gross. Read the room.”
Natasha Lyonne, star of Russian Doll and currently directing a feature called Uncanny Valley that pledges to use “ethical” AI alongside traditional filmmaking, was equally blunt: “Any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds. Deeply misguided & totally disturbed. Not the way. Not the vibe. Not the use.”
While artificial intelligence is already used as a tool in film production, its role in performance — and the ethics around it — remains fiercely contested.
An artificially rendered video of “AI actor” Tilly Norwood being attacked by a monster was shared on Instagram.
The controversy comes less than a year after SAG-AFTRA ended its lengthy strike in late 2023, where the use of artificial intelligence was a central bargaining issue. The union ultimately secured safeguards to protect actors’ likenesses and performances from unauthorized AI replication.
Video game performers waged a similar battle. Their yearlong strike concluded in July with a new contract requiring studios to obtain written consent before creating digital replicas of actors.
Despite these measures, disputes over AI’s role in performance continue to erupt across the industry.
SAG-AFTRA members picketed outside NBC’s Rockefeller Center on July 17, 2023, carrying signs during the actors’ strike.
The debate over artificial intelligence in performance resurfaced earlier this year when it was revealed that the Oscar-winning 2024 film The Brutalist used AI to generate Hungarian dialogue for characters played by Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones. The disclosure sparked fresh controversy within the industry.
Eline Van der Velden, the Dutch producer behind Tilly Norwood, addressed the uproar in an Instagram post.
“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,” Van der Velden wrote on Sunday. “Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity.”
She argued that AI-generated performers should be viewed as a separate genre, describing Norwood’s development as “an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role, or shaping a performance.”
Van der Velden did not respond to interview requests on Tuesday, but her statement was also shared to Norwood’s own Instagram account, which features images of the character drinking coffee, shopping, and “preparing for projects.” As of Tuesday, the account had more than 33,000 followers.
“Had such a blast filming some screen tests recently,” one caption reads. “Every day feels like a step closer to the big screen.”
