AI 'actor' Tilly Norwood has sparked a major Hollywood backlash after it was revealed that the first digitally generated performer from AI talent studio Xicoia was receiving interest from several talent agencies.
While there has certainly been a general air of hostility towards AI-generated content of late, a number of Hollywood actors have voiced their opinion on the news, coming out against the use of the new technology.
First announcing the news last week, Deadline reported that Xicoia is in talks with a number of talent agencies, who are interested in signing its first creation, AI actor Tilly Norwood.
Appearing during a Zurich Summit panel, Xicoia founder Eline Van der Velden explained that a number of high-profile projects are likely to use the technology in the near future.
Following the announcement, a group of celebrities including Scream actor Melissa Barrera, spoke out against the use of the technology, urging people to boycott any agencies who endorse hyperreal digital stars.
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"Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$," Barrera shared on her Instagram story. "How gross, read the room."
Taking to the comment section on Deadline's Instagram page, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story star Nicholas Alexander Chavez said: "Not an actress actually nice try."
"She couldn't hit her mark and she was late!" quipped Lukas Gage, while Toni Colette commented with a string of screaming emojis
Matilda star Mara Wilson said: "And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?"
Defending the creation of Tilly Norwood as a "new tool", Van der Velden shared a statement on Instagram explaining that the digital star is not intended as "a replacement for a human being".
"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. Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity," Van der Velden wrote.
She continued: "I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush. 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."
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.
