Well, this is bleak. Dutch actor and producer Eline Van der Velden says multiple talent agencies are lining up to represent her creation, AI-generated “actress” Tilly Norwood. (“We’re not going to be that agency,” commented Gersh Agency president Leslie Siebert.) Tilly made its screen debut in a two-minute comedy sketch, “AI Commissioner,” assembled using 10 different AI programs, including a ChatGPT-generated script. Tilly is the first “actor” from Van der Velden’s new AI talent studio Xicoia, a division of her U.K.-based production company Particle6. Van der Velden has said she hopes to make Tilly “the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman.”
The news drew swift outrage from Hollywood. Melissa Barrera called it “gross” and urged actors to drop any agency that signs Tilly. Mara Wilson wrote, “And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?” Whoopi Goldberg told The View an AI “actor” could never replace humans: “You can always tell them from us. We move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently.” Emily Blunt called the project “really, really scary,” pleading, “Come on, agencies, don’t do that.” And Natasha Lyonne, co-founder of an “ethical” AI studio, added a vomit emoji over Tilly’s face on Instagram and declared, “Any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds. Deeply misguided & totally disturbed. Not the way. Not the vibe. Not the use.”
SAG-AFTRA has now issued a formal statement calling Tilly a “synthetic” trained on countless actors’ work “without permission or compensation.” “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,” the guild added, warning that studios can’t deploy AI performers without providing notice and negotiating with the union.
Van der Velden has defended her project, calling Tilly “a creative work — a piece of art” and urging audiences to “welcome AI as part of the wider artistic family.” In a LinkedIn post, Van der Velden commented, “Audiences? They care about the story — not whether the star has a pulse. Tilly is already attracting interest from talent agencies and fans. The age of synthetic actors isn’t ‘coming’ — it’s here.” As “Fantastic Four” star Ralph Ineson put it on X: “F**k off.”
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