Hollywood Actors Union Slams ‘AI Actress’ Tilly Norwood as Backlash Builds

On Tuesday, major actors and trade union SAG-AFTRA denounced the rise of Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated “actress” developed by London-based Xicoia, calling synthetic performers a threat to human entertainers.

The character, developed by comedian, engineer and engineer, Eline van der Belden, who spun Xicoia from production company Particle 6, was announced at the Zurich Summit at the Zurich Film Festival in Switzerland last week, and quickly attracted online attention. Van der Belden said several talented agents are already interested in signing artificial characters.

However, Sag-AFTRA has drawn sharp boundaries between human performers and digital works.

“Tilley Norwood is not an actor, but a character generated by a computer program trained in the work of countless professional performers without permission or compensation,” says Sag-Aftra.

The union criticized creation, saying, “there are no experiences or feelings of life to bring out.”

“From what we saw, audiences are not interested in seeing computer-generated content free from the human experience,” they said.

According to Sag-Aftra, projects like Tilly Norwood “create the issue of using stolen performances to drive actors out of work, putting performers at risk and underestimating human artistry.”

The guild also warned producers that “they may not use synthetic performers without complying with contractual obligations that require notification and negotiation whenever a synthetic performer is used.”

Particle6 did not respond immediately to a request for comment Decryption.

“New Tool” or replacement?

In an Instagram post, van der Werden likened the project to animation, puppet shows and CGI, defending Norwood as a creative experiment rather than a threat. “I think of AI as a new tool, a new paintbrush, not as a replacement for people,” she writes.

“Tillie’s creation was, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, unlike drawing characters, writing roles, and shaping performances,” she said. “She represents an experiment rather than an alternative.”

But the pushback in Hollywood was already growing.

“Good Lord, we’re screwed,” Oscar-nominated actor Emily Blunt said in a recent interview, responding to Norwood’s image. “That’s really, really scary.”

“The problem with this is that you’re suddenly happening to something generated with 5,000 other actors,” Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg said. View. “It has the attitude of Bette Davis, it has the humour of Humphrey Bogart, it has my humour. So, that’s a bit of an unfair advantage, but what do you know?”

For SAG-AFTRA, the backlash against Norwood reflects the reverberation of past labor wars. Artificial intelligence was the flashpoint of the union’s months of 2023 strike when actors demanded protections for portraits and performances that were reproduced without consent.

Despite the warning, Vandel Belden remains bright about AI’s position in entertainment.

“I hope we can welcome AI as part of the wider artist,” she writes. “When we celebrate all forms of creativity, we open the door to new voices, new stories, and new ways of connecting with one another.”