The first ever AI-generated actress, Tilly Norwood, has taken to the silver screen and generated concern throughout Hollywood. Many actors have expressed a fear of losing jobs to these new AI actors, and audiences worry they may never see a real human face on their screens again.
Norwood was created by Eline Van der Velden, founder of AI production studio Particle6. The company used tools like OpenAI and DeepSeeks to design Norwood’s appearance and voice to mimic natural human expressions. On Instagram, where she has gained over 60,000 followers, Norwood appears as a young woman with wavy brown hair, documenting her “life” as an “actress” and “celebrity.”
“In 20 seconds I fought monsters, fled explosions, sold you a car, and nearly won an Oscar,” Norwood said in a recent Instagram post. “All in a day’s work… literally! Find yourself an actress who can do it all.”
Norwood’s presence was initially processed positively. But, backlash erupted after Hollywood news outlet, “Deadline,” reported that agencies were considering signing her as a real actress. The announcement fueled anger in Norwood’s Instagram comments, with some reactions even coming from human Hollywood stars.
“This is incredibly thoughtless and frankly disturbing,” Actor Cameron Cowperthwaite said in the Instagram comments. “I hope this backfires in every way humanly and well… Non-humanly possible.”
In response to the criticism, Norwood’s Instagram comments were turned off on her announcement post. Van der Velden made a lengthy statement on Norwood’s Instagram account explaining that the AI actress was not designed to replace humans, but to display a symbol of technology and art coming together.
“To those who have expressed anger over the creation of our AI character Tilly Norwood: she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work — a piece of art,” Van Der Velden said in the post. “Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that itself shows the power of creativity. I hope we can welcome AI as part of the wider artistic family.”
Many argue that the fully AI-generated actress lacks the depth and realism of a human performer, threatening to boycott any Hollywood talent agency that signs Norwood. Despite this initial criticism, Van der Velden still aims to launch more than 40 AI stars through her company to use them not only in television, but also in podcasts and video games. Van der Velden sees Norwood as a way to allow smaller creators into the industry, as an AI production company and actors do not require a large team or budget to create media.
“I love the creative process and I want to encourage people to not be scared of it,” Van der Velden said on the TellyCast Podcast. “Don’t see it as a problem, see it as an opportunity.”
Norwood has only appeared in a short AI-generated sketch called AI Commissioner, but Van der Velden plans for Norwood to make her appear on the big screen. The AI actress’ rise brings growing concern over AI related job losses, not only within Hollywood but across other work fields as well. However, actors have not given up hope and are determined to preserve the human’s role in the entertainment industry.
“I am a big believer in not letting robots dream for us,” Actor Nicolas Cage said at his Saturn awards speech. “Robots cannot reflect the human condition for us. That is a dead end if an actor lets one AI robot manipulate his or her performance even a little bit, an inch will eventually become a mile and all integrity, purity and truth of art will be replaced by financial interests only. We can’t let that happen.”
