Hollywood Agencies Race to Sign AI "Actress" Tilly Norwood as Critics Push Back

Over the weekend, news broke about a controversial new actress who was supposedly being circled by talent agencies. People were not wary of this new hit actress because of past crimes of geopolitical beefs, but because she was made entirely of AI.

Speaking at the Zurich Summit, actor and technologist Eline Van der Velden, founder of the AI talent studio Xicoia, dropped the bombshell. She revealed that her studio's first creation, Tilly Norwood, is attracting serious interest from agencies.

So, today, I want to dig into what a world with AI actresses looks like.

Let's dive in.

Who Is Tilly Norwood?

I'm not really sure we should be treating AI talent like they're human beings. In fact, I think the idea that makes people excited is that you don't have to, which is an issue on its own. But for this article's sake, I won't get into that.

Tilly Norwood is the creation of Eline Van der Velden, the CEO of an AI-focused production company called Particle 6.

They launched AI talent studio Xicoia with the express goal of getting "hyperreal digital stars" into the marketplace. At the heart of this is the idea that they would use these creations to star in film and TV productions, have podcasts, do TikTok dances, YouTube content, make brand campaigns, and even star in or be the center of video games.

So, Who Reps Tilly Norwood?

For all these AI career aspirations, Tilly is going to need an agent, manager, lawyer, and maybe someone in PR.

But right now, no one has taken Tilly on as a client.

Her creators say they've met with major agencies, and people are circling. To me, that's a slot of smoke. Maybe there's fire, maybe there's just talk.

Yet I think all these agencies know that if they sign a person like this, there's going to be a lot of backlash, and they could lose real clients over it.

The Backlash is Real

After the announcement of Tilly even existing, social media blew up with people skeptical about her worth, abilities, reason for existing, and the composite of whose faces she was built on.

Scream star Melissa Barrera wrote on her Instagram Stories: “Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$. How gross, read the room.”

And Matilda star Mara Wilson commented on the Tilly news story on Instagram: “And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?”

Lots of other people chimed in in the comments, both celebrities and normal people, all of them wanting real people with real work ethics and real abilities to collaborate to make stuff, not fake AI people.

I think a line was drawn for a lot of hypothetical agencies. Sign this person, and you could lose not only your reputation but also your clients.

Tilly Responds

Particle 6 CEO Eline Van der Velden released a public statement after the backlash. It said, “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.”

The statement 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.”

It ended with, “Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role, or shaping a performance. 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.”

I thought this was an interesting statement. It was good to hear the other side, but I do not think there is anything that can be said that would make people feel better. When you create something that you aim to use to take other people's jobs, they're always going to fire back.

Summing It All Up

This is a situation that may rear its head again in Hollywood soon, as more and more AI products are created. For what it's worth, I think the uncanny valley of it all will always drive people away. These AI characters lack physicality and a personality.

If you look at the biggest stars in Hollywood, we love them because of the mystery around them and the mystique of a real person who worked hard to rise to stardom.

Not some creation of someone in a lab.

Let me know what you think in the comments.