SAG-AFTRA Slams AI Actress: “Tilly Norwood Is Not an Actor — It Has No Life Experience to Draw From, No Emotion”

As seen in The Hollywood Reporter

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.”