Xicoia launches AI talent studio for digital actors at Zurich Summit

Eline Van der Velden, founder of AI production company Particle6, unveiled Xicoia at the Zurich Summit during the Zurich Film Festival on Saturday, introducing a talent studio that will create, manage and monetize digitally generated actors for film, television, video games, social media and branded campaigns. The studio’s first character, Tilly Norwood, has been soft launched on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube as an early example of what Van der Velden described as “emotionally intelligent” synthetic talent.

Xicoia will build on Particle6’s avatar personality engine, DeepFame, and a fan engagement platform to develop a portfolio of AI personas with full backstories, distinct voices, evolving narrative arcs and the ability to engage in unscripted conversations. The company said the characters will combine autonomous responsiveness with human creative oversight to maintain cultural relevance and brand safety while adapting tone and references to platform-specific audiences. The roadmap reportedly includes scaling to more than 40 AI personalities, licensing the underlying technology, and expanding into scripted entertainment, live performances and merchandising.