In brief
- SAG-AFTRA said Tilly Norwood “is not an actor” and has “no life experience to draw from.”
- Creator Eline Van der Velden defended Norwood as a “new paintbrush” rather than a replacement for human performers.
- Entertainers join the growing backlash, calling AI entertainment “scary” and lacking a real connection.
Leading actors labor union SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday condemned the rise of Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated “actress” developed by London-based Xicoia, calling the synthetic performer a threat to human entertainers.
The character, developed by comedian and technologist Eline Van der Velden—who spun off Xicoia from her production company Particle6—was unveiled last week at the Zurich Summit during the Zurich Film Festival in Switzerland, and immediately drew online attention. Van der Velden said multiple talent agents are already interested in signing the artificial personality.
SAG-AFTRA, however, drew a sharp line between human performers and digital creations.
“‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers—without permission or compensation,” SAG-AFTRA said.
The union criticized the creation, saying that it “has no life experience to draw from, no emotion.”
“From what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience,” they said.
According to SAG-AFTRA, projects like Tilly Norwood “create the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.”
The guild also warned producers that they “may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used.”
Particle6 did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Decrypt.
A “new tool” or a replacement?
In an Instagram post, Van der Velden defended Norwood as a creative experiment rather than a threat, likening the project to animation, puppetry, and CGI. “I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush,” she wrote.
“Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role, or shaping a performance,” she said. “She represents experimentation, not substitution.”
But pushback in Hollywood was already growing.
“Good Lord, we’re screwed,” Oscar-nominated actor Emily Blunt said, reacting to an image of Norwood during a recent interview. “That is really, really scary.”
“The problem with this is that you are suddenly up against something that's been generated with 5,000 other actors,” Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg said on The View. “It's got Betty Davis's attitude, it's got Humphrey Bogart's humor, it's got my humor. So, it's a little bit of an unfair advantage, but you know what? Bring it on.”
For SAG-AFTRA, the backlash to Norwood echoes past labor battles. Artificial intelligence was a flashpoint in the union’s months-long 2023 strike, when actors demanded protections against their likenesses and performances being replicated without consent.
Despite the warnings, Van der Velden remains upbeat about AI’s place in entertainment.
“I hope we can welcome AI as part of the wider artistic family,” she wrote. “When we celebrate all forms of creativity, we open doors to new voices, new stories, and new ways of connecting with each other.”