AI-generated actor Tilly Norwood faces industry backlash

Dutch producer and comedian Eline Van der Velden unveiled a digitally generated actor named Tilly Norwood at an industry event in Zurich last weekend, saying the character is part of a new artificial intelligence talent studio called Xicoia. The announcement that talent agencies were showing interest in representing the avatar prompted immediate backlash from performers, unions and other industry figures who argued that AI-generated characters should not occupy the same professional space as human actors.

Van der Velden presented Tilly Norwood at the Zurich Film Festival industry summit and said she expected to announce agency representation in the coming months. In a statement posted on Instagram and shared to the character's account, Van der Velden described Tilly as "not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work, a piece of art" and argued that AI can be "a new tool, a new paintbrush" that opens storytelling possibilities similar to animation, puppetry or CGI.

The actor union SAG-AFTRA issued a clear rebuke, saying Tilly Norwood "is not an actor" but a character generated by a computer program "that was trained on the work of countless professional performers...