(Image via Women’s Agenda)
Volunteer Writer: Mariana Peñafiel
Email: mpenafiel@umassd.edu
Cambridge Dictionary defines an actress as “a woman who pretends to be someone else while performing in a movie, play, or television program.”
So, how can Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated “actress”, be considered one?
Who is Tilly Norwood?
Tilly Norwood is not human; she’s an AI-generated actress.
She was created by the AI production studio Particle6, which defines itself as a company that is “redefining the future of video, film and TV production.”
Particle6 was founded by the Dutch actress Eline Van der Velden in 2015. Since then, the company has been dedicating themselves to the development of audiovisual projects, using artificial intelligence.
From visual effects, comedy sketches, nature montages, drama reconstructions, and their new invention of AI avatars, the company has been creating a new way of filmmaking that has all the world talking.
Tilly Norwood is part of the new AI talent studio called Xicoia, launched by Particle6 in 2025. This AI studio focuses exclusively on the creation of these new avatars. The studio has the goal of creating a new generation of AI stars, with Tilly Norwood being the very first.
Van der Velden, the creator of Tilly Norwood, introduced her officially to the world at the Zurich Film Festival (also known as the Zurich Summit).
At the festival, the CEO of Particle6 stated that although when they first launched Tilly publicly back in July and people showed discomfort with the idea of an “AI actress,” Norwood already has agencies willing to represent her.
“When we first launched Tilly, people were like, ‘What’s that?,’ and now we’re going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months,” said Van der Velden.
The Next Scarlett Johansson?
“We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman. That’s the aim of what we’re doing,” Van der Velden said.
And that’s exactly one of the main criticisms that the company has received, as ironically she might quite literally be inspired from Johansson’s features, along with some other actresses.
AI cannot generate new ideas, and, of course, cannot create new faces, so Norwood would be a fusion of uncompensated and unauthorized use of different women’s images.
Hollywood is concerned with the ethical implications of AI that Norwood raises. Mara Wilson, the star actress of the 1996 film Matilda, wrote in response to Deadline´s post 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?”
So, Particle6 not only used the faces of living women without the authorization, but now they want Tilly Norwood to replace them.
Actor Nicholas Alexander Chavez also responded with his comment about the new AI actress: “Not an actress actually nice try.”
And Lucy Hale with her short but clear response: “no.”
More and more actors and actresses have talked about their discomfort, not just with the studio and its creation of Tilly Norwood but by the fact that there are agencies willing to represent Tilly.
In the words of Telly Leung, she is just a “computer program.”
Van der Velden has responded to these accusations from Norwood’s Instagram account (which has already passed the 60,000 followers), claiming: “…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.”
She continues,
I also believe AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors. Each form of art has its place, and each can be valued for what it uniquely brings. I hope we can welcome AI as part of the wider artistic family.
Why Does This Matter?
The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) responded to the AI actress with a statement in which they were clear about their opinion in the subject:
“SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics.”
In 2023, the guild went on strike against Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) for various reasons, one of them being the use of AI in films and television.
“The actors don’t want to be displaced by technology and certainly not without being compensated for it,” said entertainment lawyer Jonathan Handel two years ago.
Different situation, same conversation.
In 2024, 2 Oscar-nominated movies, Emilia Perez and The Brutalist, were harshly criticized for using AI in their films after both won awards that night—especially Adrian Brody, whose voice was modified with an AI program to improve his Hungarian accent.
The night of the Oscars, Timothée Chalamet, who said it took years to perfect his Bob Dylan accent, lost the best actor award to Brody… and to AI.
“Chalamet dedicated years of work to his performance, and I would be a little upset if I were him, getting snubbed by an actor who used AI to help with his accent,” said Vanessa Flanagan, staff writer for The Hofstra Chronicle.
The use of AI in films isn´t new. This conversation has been on the table for years now, sparking a wide range of opinions and reactions. People have been concerned about the replacement of real people with AI for awhile, but that hasn’t stopped the development of it.
The actor´s guild remains firm in its opposition to the use of AI, but a lot of studios and agencies are starting or continuing to use AI in their productions.
Tilly Norwood never gets tired, never complains, and never makes mistakes. But she also doesn’t feel, doesn’t resonate with people, doesn’t inspire, doesn’t love, doesn’t fear. She isn’t passionate, and she doesn’t create from human experience.
It doesn’t matter how impressive this new “art” may seem. What AI produces is always imitation. It is a reproduction of something that already exists.
The true creation remains human: with mistakes, with passion, with emotions… with life.