Hollywood’s AI ‘Actress’ Tilly Norwood Sparks A Fierce Debate Over ‘Talent’

Tilly Norwood

Courtesy: Tilly Norwood

Are AI “actresses” actual actresses?

This week, during the Zurich Film Festival, multihyphinate (actor/comedian/producer) Eline Van der Velden unveiled and discussed something, or someone, that instantly divided Hollywood: Tilly Norwood.

Tilly is the first AI actress from Eline’s newly launched AI talent studio, Xicoia, a spin-off from Particle6. Within hours of this announcement, Tilly dominated headlines as the “world’s first AI actress,” creating an instant debate, while drawing curiosity from talent agencies and condemnation from many working actors.

And while Elin’s position is that Tilly Norwood is not meant to be a replacement for flesh-and-blood performers. “She is a creation, a piece of art,” Van der Velden said. “AI is not a substitute for human craft, but a new paintbrush — like animation, puppetry, or CGI.” The framing has not calmed the storm, and the opinionated have become vocal.

The announcement of Tilly has landed in the midst of a community and industry still reeling from pandemic shutdowns, strikes, and shifting business models. The idea of an AI rival encroaching on their already scarce job opportunities feels like salt in the wound.

Perhaps the most high-profile critique came from Whoopi Goldberg, on The View. “The problem with this, in my humble opinion, is that you are suddenly up against something that’s been generated with 5,000 other actors,” she said. “It’s got Bette Davis’ attitude, Humphrey Bogart’s lips… and that’s an unfair advantage. But you can always tell them from us. We move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently.”

Goldberg also noted that while today’s technology isn’t seamless, “maybe in two or three years” it will be — a timeline that alarms many performers worried about their livelihoods.

How Should We Categorize AI?

The music industry is facing a similar issue, as three AI-generated musicians have charted on Billboard. Where the questions posed are identical. Are AI singers musicians, and should their royalties be the same?

In this case, should Tilly be labeled an “actress,” or is that a term reserved for living, breathing professionals who dedicate years to honing their craft? Or is Tilly a “creation” as its creator has labeled her.

That question matters as language drives and shapes perception. Calling an algorithmically generated avatar an “actress” risks flattening the distinction between artistry and automation. For performers who endure endless auditions, career instability, and the pressure of carrying narratives with emotional truth, the suggestion that software deserves the same label is triggering.

While Eline insists she is not trying to erase humans, and that Tilly Norwood is simply the evolutionary lineage of cinematic innovation, from animation to CGI to motion capture. She also claims that Norwood could be “the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman,” which underscores the disconnect.

The controversy around Norwood is igniting a broader anxiety not only about performance but also about copyright, consent, and creative control.

Are the datasets used to train AI avatars composed of real actors’ likenesses, which have been borrowed without permission? If so, is an AI “actress” essentially a digital composite built on the backs of uncredited and uncompensated, human labor?

Goldberg widened the lens further, warning that “AI in the workplace” isn’t limited to Hollywood. “People talk about being so lonely that they don’t have a connection. If you stick with this, with AI, you won’t have any connection to anything but your phone,” she cautioned.

While AI continues to replicate patterns, it cannot live a childhood, endure rejection, or improvise in the moment with another human on set. And while acting often looks effortless, performers are quick to remind critics that craft is the invisible scaffolding behind every significant role: practice, empathy, lived experience, and emotional risk.

It will be interesting to see how this develops. Will those who create AI talent be the new creatives studios and production companies seek? Will actors unify around this in a way they didn’t around other her disruptive technology? Or will this moment lay the foundation for a new form of storytelling told to audiences with new types of messengers?

This is only the beginning.