LOS ANGELES: The creator of an AI actress who exploded across the internet over the weekend has insisted she is an artwork, after a fierce backlash from the creative community.
Tilly Norwood (pic) — a composite girl-next-door described on her Instagram page as an aspiring actress — has already attracted attention from multiple talent agents, Eline Van der Velden told an industry panel in Switzerland.
Van der Velden said studios and other entertainment companies were quietly embracing AI, which her company, Particle6, says can drastically reduce production costs.
“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, according to Deadline.
The AI-generated Norwood has already appeared in a short sketch, and in July, Van der Velden told Broadcast International the company had big ambitions for their creation.
“We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that’s the aim of what we’re doing.
“People are realising that their creativity doesn’t need to be boxed in by a budget — there are no constraints creatively and that’s why AI can really be a positive.”
AI is a huge red line for Hollywood’s creative community, and its use by studios was one of the fundamental sticking points during the writers’ and actors’ strikes that gripped Hollywood in 2023.
“Scream” actress Melissa Barrera said performers should boycott any talent agent involved in promoting the AI actress.
“Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$. How gross, read the room,” she wrote on Instagram.
Mara Wilson, who played the lead in “Matilda” in 1996, said such creations took work away from real people.
“And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?” she said on social media. – AFP
