"The Next Scarlett Johansson", AI Talent Studio Says Movie Studios are Clamoring to Work With AI Actress Tilly Norwood

Variety – AI actress Tilly Norwood has attracted the attention of multiple talent agents, actor, comedian and producer Eline Van der Velden told a panel at the Zurich Summit, the industry strand of the Zurich Film Festival.

Tilly Norwood is the first creation to emerge from recently launched AI talent studio Xicoia, a spin-off from Van der Velden’s AI production studio Particle6.

Van der Velden said that studios were quietly moving forward with AI projects, and that further announcements would come in the next few months.

“We were in a lot of boardrooms around February time, and everyone was like, ‘No, this is nothing. It’s not going to happen.’ Then, by May, people were like, ‘We need to do something with you guys,’” said Van der Velden, who was being interviewed on stage Saturday by Diana Lodderhose of Deadline.

This might have to be the last time I blog about AI infiltrating a real-life industry. I'm sure it won't be. But it really should. Because like pretty much anything else in the world, all bitching and moaning about something you don't like does is further validate its existence. But everybody has to hate this right? If you polled the world asking if people liked the idea of movies being made using AI actors instead of real-life actors, I gotta think at minimum 95% of people are saying no. 

The more I look into Tilly Norwood the more annoying the whole thing gets. First off, her name being in the headlines at all was clearly bought and paid for by this AI talent studio. Her Instagram account had 1,000 followers as of a week ago. There's literally nothing she's done, or any bit of Tilly Norwood content out there that's popped off to the point of warranting any buzz. So again, I know I'm just the asshole falling into their trap at this point. I know I'm just an old man yelling at a cloud. But when I see what this studio is doing to try and ingratiate "her" with the general public... I mean what the hell is this? How could anybody like this? How could there be any real people out there who see Tilly Norwood's Instagram account and think, "Oh wow she's a girl just like us!"

That just sucks so so so incredibly much. It's sad. It's depressing. I hate it a lot. And I'd hate to advocate for criminal activity, but if anyone out there is capable of hacking into Tilly's Instagram account and maybe posting a video or two of Tilly in a klan outfit. We might just need to get her cancelled. Honestly you don't even need to hack into her account. If you have the AI skills, just make the video and post it yourself. "TILLY NORWOOD HURLS SLURS AT BARISTA!!!". 

It wouldn't be any less real than whatever is being posted from her account already. 

And when the people profiting off this AI stuff start to get criticized, no matter what industry it is, they all respond with something like this.

Variety – “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,” Eline Van der Velden wrote in a statement on Instagram, also posted on Norwood’s own Instagram page.

"It's not a replacement for real people. We're just doing an art project. We're exploring the boundaries of technology." That's such bullshit. They literally say they want Tilly Norwood to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman. 

“We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that’s the aim of what we’re doing,” Van der Velden told Broadcast International, adding that economic issues were driving the movie and TV business toward AI production.

This studio would love nothing more than for their AI actors to dominate the industry and replace real people altogether. They're not doing this as an independent art project for the love of the game. They're doing it so they can hopefully be on the forefront of an AI acting revolution and someday make $10M on a movie that cost them pennies on the dollar to make. 

But if there ever is a big budget (or I guess it would be a remarkably small budget) AI-movie that gets to the point of being in theaters, and is being considered among the top movies of the year, which I imagine will probably happen somewhere along the line, that movie better give me something that real-life human beings are completely incapable of providing. I'm not even sure what that would be. But if we get Tilly Norwood starring in a romantic comedy where she goes on a week long vacation with her fiancee's eccentric family for the first time… unless somehow this broad is capable of delivering a caliber of acting performance the likes of which the world has never seen. A performance that makes Daniel Day-Lewis look like a high school thespian… I just can't imagine there's a single person in the world (other than those directly profiting from it) who would care for a movie like that.

Stupid AI. I hope Tilly Norwood gets run over by a virtual bus.