AI continues to infiltrate artistic spaces, and the latest culprit is an "actress" named Tilly Norwood. Here's what the industry and fans have to say about it.
The "Tilly Norwood" controversy
Recently, Eline Van der Velden, the Dutch founder of Particle 6 Productions, announced Xicoia, “the world’s first artificial intelligence talent studio.” Considering AI is not actually capable of having acting talent, real actors are quite upset about the news.
Many people have taken to social media to denounce Tilly, who is not only a threat to jobs but also an offensive creation that demeans the art of acting.
According to Deadline, talent agencies are actually interested in signing the fake "actor," who has been called "the next Scarlett Johansson." Naturally, this has caused even more backlash from artists.
Scream star Melissa Barrera recently took to Instagram to encourage her fellow actors to drop any talent agencies that sign AI "actors."
"Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this drop their a$$. How gross, read the room," she wrote.
For All Mankind actor Luke Barnett called out Variety for using the term "actress" when referring to the AI creation.
Emily Blunt shared her thoughts with Variety on a podcast, saying, "Good Lord, we’re screwed. That is really, really scary, Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection."
Even Deadline's Instargram post about the concept of Tilly also garnered attention from actors.
"The F*** is this [expletive] be so fr right now," Ariel Winter commented.
"And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn't hire any of them?" Mara Wilson pointed out.
"Out the agents. I want names," Kiersey Clemons added.
"She was a nightmare to work with!!!!" Lukas Gage joked.
"No," Lucy Hale added simply.
Tilly Norwood Instagram acocunt "responds" to backlash
The official Instagram account for Tilly Norwood issued a statement following the backlash.
“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,” said Van der Velden on Sunday. “Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity.”
“I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush,” she continued. “Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I’m an actor myself, and nothing — certainly not an AI character — can take away the craft or joy of human performance."
"Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance," she explained.
However, the comments section of the post got heated, with people explaining why the whole concept of an AI "actress" is wrong.
"You should release the names of every single individual 'Tilly' was modeled after and they should ALL receive royalties for anything grossed by this AI model," one person commented.
"Stop calling it 'she', it’s not a living being, and it has no gender. And report any of their posts where it talks about doing any activities. It is false information. It did not do anything." They continued, "It is fraudulent, misleading information."
"We all need to boycott films that use AI characters in place of humans," one commenter suggested.
The internet jokes about the AI "actress"
Meanwhile, some people on the Internet are just having some fun with the news.
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