Hollywood Outraged Over AI 'Actor' Tilly Norwood
Image Source: Vanity Fair
AI is infiltrating several areas of everyday life and the arts. A huge fear within film and television, especially, is the risk of artificially generated performances replacing those of human performers. Two years ago, actors’ union SAG-AFTRA went on strike over this very concern. However, those concerns have manifested themselves in a new actress on the scene: Tilly Norwood. However, she is not a human performer but rather a digital actress created with AI. Norwood is a digital actress with “girl next door” vibes who could easily be mistaken for a young aspiring actress. She was created by Eline Van Der Velden, founder of the tech startup Particle6, who says they are in the business of creating “digital content” for film and TV. Norwood has been making her presence known, appearing in completely AI-generated videos on her social media pages.
“I may be AI, but I am feeling very real emotions right now,” the digital actress’s creators posted on her page, “I am excited for what’s coming next!”
Naturally, this new development has SAG-AFTRA and others outraged. Newly elected SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin said, “Tilly Norwood is not an actual human performer. It’s an artificially created construct.”
SAG-AFTRA released a statement condemning the AI on Tuesday, saying:
“To be cler, ‘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.
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Additionally, signatory producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used."
Other actors spoke out as well, including Oscar winner Ariana DeBose.
"The artistry and dedication and real lived human experiences of SAG-AFTRA performers is what has fueled the motion picture industry for more than a century," DeBose stated. "Synthetic performers, on the other hand, are created using technology that is only as effective as the content it is trained on. This technology will never create anything original, and it's technology that mines from the work of human creatives without consent or pay."
Despite several agencies supposedly being in talks to “sign” Norwood, its creators say that the AI actress is not meant to be a replacement for real human talent but rather an art piece.
“Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role, or shaping a performance.” Norwood's creators said on her Instagram, “It takes time, skill, and iteration to bring such a character to life. She represents experimentation, not substitution. Much of my work has always been about holding up a mirror to society through satire, and this is no different.”
Still, this does not reassure those in the industry, with many calling for boycotts of agencies that have chosen to sign her. One star, however, sees this new actress as a challenge rather than just a threat: Whoopi Goldberg.
"Bring it on," Goleberg said on the ABC program The View, "We move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently. Maybe in two or three years it'll be seamless," she continued, "But it's not seamless yet."
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