[Tilly Norwood is a fictional, photorealistic, 100% AI-generated “actress” whose September 2025 announcement caused controversy in the film industry. She’s not a real person, but created by Xicoia (pronounced she-KOY-uh), the AI talent studio division of the UK production company Particle6. She was pitched as the “next Scarlett Johansson” and has attracted interest from talent agencies, though Hollywood unions and actors have strongly condemned her.
[The revelation that talent agents were in talks to sign an AI actor sparked widespread outrage from human actors and unions. Actors like Emily Blunt and Whoopi Goldberg expressed dismay, and SAG-AFTRA, the film and television performers’ union, issued a statement condemning the AI creation for undermining human artistry.
[Critics argue that AI actors like Tilly Norwood raise several ethical red flags. These include the fact that the technology is reportedly programmed from the work of countless human actors without obtaining their permission, crediting them, or compensating them; AI actors could replace human performers, jeopardizing livelihoods and devaluing human creativity; an AI cannot refuse to perform a scene, which raises concerns about portraying sexual or demeaning content without a real person’s consent; real-life individuals have come forward alleging that Tilly Norwood bears a striking resemblance to them, implying their likeness may have been used without permission.
[The London-based Dutch comedian, writer, actress, and producer Eline Van der Velden, founder of Particle6 and Xicoia, defended the creation, comparing AI to other tools like CGI and animation. She stated that Tilly is “not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work—a piece of art.”
[As part of her promotion, the AI Norwood has appeared in social media content, including headshots and a spoof advertisement on Instagram, and the two-minute, AI-generated film AI Commissioner (released in the United Kingdom on 30 July 2025). The sketch was created entirely by AI, with the script written by ChatGPT and the production utilizing 10 different AI tools.
[AI Commissioner, which features the Norwood in her début role, is a short, AI-generated comedy sketch that satirizes the television development process being taken over by artificial intelligence. It portrays a TV development executive pitching new programming ideas to an “AI Commissioner.” The AI Commissioner operates under specific guidelines, including that there should be no plotlines involving dead women or missing children.
[In minutes, the AI generates a flood of data-driven ideas, precisely optimized for channel viewing figures and audience metrics. The AI selects an interactive thriller based on a viewer’s streaming history and delivery orders, titled I Know What You Streamed Last Summer.
[In the comedy sketch, Norwood plays the role of an unnamed, AI-generated actress. The AI Commissioner casts Norwood in the interactive thriller, with the TV executive commenting, “She’ll do anything I say. I’m already in love.”
[AI Commissioner was shown at the Zurich Summit of the 2025 Zurich Film Festival in September as a showcase for their AI-generated Tilly Norwood. The video was posted to Particle6’s YouTube channel, where it quickly gained attention amid the controversy surrounding the AI actress.
[The film received a very
negative reception, with critics from publications like The Guardian describing it as “pointless and creepy”
and “relentlessly unfunny.” Many viewers
also noted the awkward animation, blurred images, and wooden dialogue. In addition to the video’s availability on
YouTube, it was also shared on Norwood’s own social media platforms such as Instagram.
Despite the poor reviews, the video
amassed hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, largely driven by the
intense controversy and curiosity surrounding the creation of “Tilly Norwood.”]
“AI ACTRESS TILLY
NORWOOD TAKES THE SPOTLIGHT,
PROMPTING DEBATE
AND OUTCRY IN HOLLYWOOD”
by Perry Russom
[I was watching the news one evening last month, and one report especially caught my attention. It seems that I’m not the only one, either. It was the announcement of an artificial actress, AI-created, who was already being sought by casting agencies in Hollywood. In the following articles is the run-down as I’ve put it together.
[The account that got me hooked was aired on Eyewitness News, ABC7 New York (WABC-TV, Channel 7 in New York City) on 30 September 2025. It’s datelined Los Angeles, which is where the story’s centered as of now.]
A new actress is taking the spotlight in Hollywood, and it is sparking a debate among actors. That’s because this actress isn’t real. They’re [sic] an AI called Tilly Norwood.
Actors are speaking out, responding to reports that multiple talent agencies are interested in signing the AI actress.
Tilly Norwood might seem like any other aspiring actress. She has an Instagram page showing off her screen tests, alongside candid moments.
She even posted a video on Facebook which she says features her first on-camera role.
But Tilly Norwood is not a real actress -- she’s a character generated by artificial intelligence.
Her creator says she’s getting very real attention.
Eline Van der Velden runs the AI talent company that made Tilly. She says, “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.”
But that announcement is not sitting well with many Hollywood stars.
Emily Blunt said, “That is really, really scary. Come on, agencies. Don’t do that.”
Marvel star Simu Liu said, “Movies are great, but you know what would be better is if the characters in them weren’t played by actual humans but by AI replicas approximating human emotion.”
Whoopi Goldberg said, “You are suddenly up against something that’s been generated with 5,000 other actors. It’s been given all of these . . [.] you know, it’s got Bette Davis’ attitude, it’s got this one, it’s got Humphrey Bogart’s humor. So, it’s a little bit of an unfair advantage.”
Van der Velden insists Tilly “. . [.] is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art. . [. .] AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors.”
Just a few months ago, Van der Velden said she wanted Tilly to be the next Natalie Portman or Scarlet Johannsen.
The fashion industry is also under scrutiny. Guess and J.Crew have faced criticism for featuring AI models.
[Perry Russom is a multi-platform reporter at ABC News, contributing expertise across diverse broadcasting environments. His background demonstrates versatile capabilities in news gathering, reporting, and on-air presentation.
[Prior to ABC News, Russom served as a correspondent for The News With Shepard Smith at CNBC International. At NBCUniversal, he held the role of NBC10 Boston weekend anchor and also served as a reporter. During his tenure with NBCUniversal, Perry also contributed as a New England Cable News weekend anchor.]
* *
* *
“TILLY NORWOOD
DRAMA EXPLAINED: -
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT
AI ACTRESS BACKLASH”
by Marni Rose McFall
[Published by Newsweek on 29 September 2025, this is the earliest report on Tilly Norwood I found online. It includes some of the first responses from movie folk that followed the unveiling of the unliving actress.]
A new actor has attracted the attention of multiple talent agencies. The catch? She’s not real.
Tilly Norwood, an "AI-generated actress," has caught the eyes—and sparked the ire—of the entertainment industry.
Why It Matters
The so-called "AI revolution" is well underway and is increasingly seeping into our media. AI-generated models, figures, and personalities have been gradually introduced into the mainstream, prompting an online backlash in turn.
In August, an AI model made its debut in an advertisement featured in Vogue for the first time, while the AI band The Velvet Sundown also sparked discourse earlier this year.
In July 2024, the online fashion and lifestyle publication SheerLuxe faced backlash after introducing an “AI-enhanced team member,” and the CGI model Lil Miquela sparked a slew of headlines in 2016.
What To Know
Norwood is a creation from the recently launched AI talent studio, Xicoia, a spinoff of Particle6, an AI production studio founded by Eline Van der Velden. Deadline reported that multiple Hollywood talent agencies are interested in signing Norwood. A post on the outlet’s Instagram has seen a slew of negative comments from high-profile Hollywood stars.
Velden spoke about Norwood at a panel at the Zurich Summit, a strand of the Zurich Film Festival.
Particle6 shared a statement with Newsweek from Van Der Velden in response to the online backlash. It read in part, “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.”
What People Are Saying
Actor Mara Wilson wrote on Instagram in response to Deadline’s post: “And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?”
Actor Nicholas Ale Chavez wrote on Instagram in response to Deadline’s post: “Not an actress actually nice try.”
Actor Lucy Hale wrote on Instagram in response to Deadline’s post: “no.”
A statement from Eline Van Der Velden, shared with Newsweek by Particle6: “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: one more way to express ourselves, alongside theatre, film, painting, music, and countless others. When we celebrate all forms of creativity, we open doors to new voices, new stories, and new ways of connecting with each other.”
Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnegro, in a post on X: “This is literally the mark of the end of the industry as we know it. . . [. S]ay goodbye to actors. no one should be supporting this.”
What Happens Next
Whether an AI-generated actor will become part of mainstream cinema or television remains to be seen.
[Of course Tilly Norwood, and other creations like her, are “replacements” and substitutes for human beings. Who does Van der Velden think she’s fooling? What does she do that isn’t a representation of a person, one who’d otherwise be played by a live actor? Even if she and her ilk were to be relegated to doing things a living actor or stunt performer can’t do, it’s still a “replacement” for a human. And with each improvement in the technology, there will be less and less call for live performers.
[So far, stage actors aren’t under the gun. Yet. Holograms are real now and have been used—experimentally as of now—on stage (see “The Ancient Art of Kabuki Made New, With Computer Animation” by Micheline Maynard, in “Computers and Actors, Part 1” [4 October 2021]), and for now, the projections are the images of real actors. But it’s just over the horizon that Star Trek’s holodecks will be the prototypes for the stages for the next generation of playhouses. I won’t be around to see it—Gott sei Dank—but some of you all will be.]
* *
* *
“SAG-AFTRA SLAMS
AI ACTRESS:
‘TILLY NORWOOD IS
NOT AN ACTOR —
IT HAS NO LIFE
EXPERIENCE TO DRAW FROM, NO EMOTION’”
by Lily Ford
[The following report from the Hollywood Reporter of 30 September 2025 contains a statement on the introduction of an AI “actor” from the union that represents performers and other professionals who work in film and television and other media forms.]
“It doesn’t solve any ‘problem’ — it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing livelihoods and devaluing human artistry,” the union has said in a statement.
SAG-AFTRA has slammed a newly launched AI talent studio in a statement released Tuesday, saying: “Creativity is, and should remain, human-centered.”
Over the weekend, the creator of the computer-generated actress Tilly Norwood responded to critics after news broke that her studio was looking to get Norwood representation.
Eline Van der Velden, Dutch founder of AI outfit Particle 6 Productions, announced at Zurich Film Festival the launch of Xicoia, “the world’s first artificial intelligence talent studio.” She was met with outrage, however, and later said in an Instagram post: “She is not a replacement for a human being.”
SAG-AFTRA, the U.S. labor union that represents actors and other talent, has now weighed in via a statement: “The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics.”
“To be clear, ‘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,” said SAG-AFTRA. “It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn’t solve any ‘problem’ — it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.
“Additionally,” the statement continued, “signatory producers should be aware 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.”
The looming threat of AI has continued to panic the film and TV industry, and regulations around the craft became a linchpin clause through the SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. Though AI’s use in the industry already spans myriad visual effects tools, many still worry that AI could, one day, replace actors — or at least illegally use their likeness.
Melissa Barrera, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Lukas Gage, Mara Wilson and Toni Colette were among the stars condemning the news of Norwood’s possible signing.
Van der Velden defended her business on Sunday, saying: “I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush.” She said: “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. . . . Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance.”
[These reports keep referring to Xicoia as a “talent studio.” But the entity created by artificial intelligence has no “talent.” It can’t. The most common definition of ‘talent’ is a natural, innate ability or aptitude to do something well. It’s often considered a gift with which a person is born.
[But an AI-created entity isn’t natural in the sense that it’s created by nature or natural processes. By its very name, nothing about an AI creation is natural; it’s artificial, the very opposite of natural.
[Something that’s innate is born in a person. Since an AI creation isn’t born at all, nothing within it can be innate. It’s all simulated, contrived, programmed, engineered. In the 1954 movie The Barefoot Contessa, Ava Gardner’s character, a would-be movie actor, asks Humphrey Bogart’s famous film director if he can teach her to act. He replies, “If you can act, I can help you. If you can’t, nobody can teach you.”
[The talent already has to be inside you. Then a teacher, a guide, a mentor, a guru can teach you how to manage it, to control it, to make it work for you. But that teacher cannot inject the talent into you. And neither can a computer programmer.
[Lily Ford is the Hollywood Reporter’s U.K. reporter, covering breaking news, features, award shows, premières, and the like from across the pond in London. She came to THR from ITV News as a multimedia producer and before that, PA Media, on their social media desk. Ford graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Theology from the University of Cambridge and a year later, earned a master's in Broadcast Journalism from Cardiff University.]
* *
* *
“HOLLYWOOD’S AI
‘ACTRESS’ TILLY NORWOOD
SPARKS A FIERCE
DEBATE OVER ‘TALENT’”
By Doug Melville
[The article below ran in Forbes magazine on 30 September 2025.]
Are AI “actresses” actual actresses?
This week, during the Zurich Film Festival, multihyphinate (actor/comedian/producer) Eline Van der Velden unveiled and discussed something, or someone, that instantly divided Hollywood: Tilly Norwood.
Tilly is the first AI actress from Eline’s newly launched AI talent studio, Xicoia, a spin-off from Particle6. Within hours of this announcement, Tilly dominated headlines as the “world’s first AI actress,” creating an instant debate, while drawing curiosity from talent agencies and condemnation from many working actors.
And while Elin’s position is that Tilly Norwood is not meant to be a replacement for flesh-and-blood performers. “She is a creation, a piece of art,” Van der Velden said. “AI is not a substitute for human craft, but a new paintbrush — like animation, puppetry, or CGI.” The framing has not calmed the storm, and the opinionated have become vocal.
The announcement of Tilly has landed in the midst of a community and industry still reeling from pandemic shutdowns, strikes, and shifting business models. The idea of an AI rival encroaching on their already scarce job opportunities feels like salt in the wound.
Perhaps the most high-profile critique came from Whoopi Goldberg, on The View. “The problem with this, in my humble opinion, is that you are suddenly up against something that’s been generated with 5,000 other actors,” she said. “It’s got Bette Davis’ attitude, Humphrey Bogart’s lips . . . and that’s an unfair advantage. But you can always tell them from us. We move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently.”
Goldberg also noted that while today’s technology isn’t seamless, “maybe in two or three years” it will be — a timeline that alarms many performers worried about their livelihoods.
How Should We Categorize AI?
The music industry is facing a similar issue, as three AI-generated musicians have charted on Billboard. Where the questions posed are identical. Are AI singers musicians, and should their royalties be the same?
In this case, should Tilly be labeled an “actress,” or is that a term reserved for living, breathing professionals who dedicate years to honing their craft? Or is Tilly a “creation” as its creator has labeled her.
That question matters as language drives and shapes perception. Calling an algorithmically generated avatar an “actress” risks flattening the distinction between artistry and automation. For performers who endure endless auditions, career instability, and the pressure of carrying narratives with emotional truth, the suggestion that software deserves the same label is triggering.
While Eline insists she is not trying to erase humans, and that Tilly Norwood is simply the evolutionary lineage of cinematic innovation, from animation to CGI to motion capture. She also claims that Norwood could be “the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman,” which underscores the disconnect.
The controversy around Norwood is igniting a broader anxiety not only about performance but also about copyright, consent, and creative control.
Are the datasets used to train AI avatars composed of real actors’ likenesses, which have been borrowed without permission? If so, is an AI “actress” essentially a digital composite built on the backs of uncredited and uncompensated, human labor?
Goldberg widened the lens further, warning that “AI in the workplace” isn’t limited to Hollywood. “People talk about being so lonely that they don’t have a connection. If you stick with this, with AI, you won’t have any connection to anything but your phone,” she cautioned.
While AI continues to replicate patterns, it cannot live a childhood, endure rejection, or improvise in the moment with another human on set. And while acting often looks effortless, performers are quick to remind critics that craft is the invisible scaffolding behind every significant role: practice, empathy, lived experience, and emotional risk.
It will be interesting to see how this develops. Will those
who create AI talent be the new creatives studios and production companies
seek? Will actors unify around this in a way they didn’t around other her [sic]
disruptive technology? Or will this moment lay the foundation for a new form of
storytelling told to audiences with new types of messengers?
This is only the beginning.
[A small note or admonition: in the Forbes article above, the name of Eline Van der Velden’s company is written as Particle 6. Several other outlets I read also included the space between the word and the numeral, while others omit the space: Particle6. I believe the latter is correct—no space—based on the way the company name is written on its own website. That should be definitive, I think.
[Doug Melville is a celebrated advisor, author, and a foremost leading voice in business—across international equity, culture, and AI in the workforce. As a former board executive at luxury group Richemont in Geneva, Switzerland, to author of Invisible Generals (Black Privilege Publishing, Atria, 2023), he’s been featured on CBS Saturday Morning, The Daily Show, Time, and The Breakfast Club. Melville has traveled to over 70 countries and is a lecturer on Reputation Management at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Previously he sat on the executive team of Magic Johnson Enterprises, and worked on Madison Avenue in the advertising industry under Omnicom. He’s an alumnus of Syracuse University.
[There are a number of posts on Rick On Theater that deal with the convergence of theater, acting, or performing and computers or related technology. Here’s a list with links for the curious reader:
• “Theater and Computers,” 5 December 2009
• “Diaspora: Night at theater may mean more than watching” by Celia Wren; in “Technologies Old and New,” 9 March 2018
•“Computers and Actors,” 4 and 7 October 2021
•“‘Entertainment in the Age of AI,’” 22 August 2022
•“‘AI in the Arts Is the Destruction of the Film Industry. We Can’t Go Quietly’” by Justine Bateman, 4 June 2023
•“‘The Playwright in the Age of AI’” by Jeffrey Goldberg, 7 March 2025
[There are also posts that deal with computer technology in fields like lighting and scenic design which I didn’t include in this list.]