Hollywood is facing a fresh controversy as an artificial intelligence–generated performer named Tilly Norwood sparks outrage among real-life actors. Created by the AI talent studio Xicoia, founded by Dutch comedian Eline Van der Velden, Tilly is not a human but a digital personality who already has her own social media presence and was officially revealed at the Zurich Film Festival.
Van der Velden has openly stated that “we want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman,” insisting that rising production costs are pushing the entertainment industry toward AI. She claimed on LinkedIn that “audiences care about the story – not whether the star has a pulse,” adding that “the age of synthetic actors isn’t ‘coming’ it’s here.”
Tilly has already appeared in a fully AI-generated comedy sketch titled AI Commissioner, where her creators jokingly wrote on Facebook that “I may be AI generated, but I’m feeling very real emotions right now.”
Celebrities Call It “Terrifying” and “Deeply Misguided”
The reaction from Hollywood has been intense. Emily Blunt said she found the idea ‘terrifying’ during a Variety podcast, asking in disbelief “that’s an AI? Good Lord, we’re screwed,” before pleading with talent agencies to “please stop taking away our human connection.”
Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino declared online that this marked the ‘end of the industry as we know it,’ urging people to “say goodbye to actors.”
Some stars demanded consequences. Melissa Barrera wrote that she hopes every actor ‘drops their agent’ if they sign AI talent, while Mara Wilson questioned why producers didn’t ‘hire any of the hundreds of real young women’ whose features were used to create Tilly.
Whoopi Goldberg argued that AI actors have ‘an unfair advantage’ since they are built using data from countless performers, although she confidently added “bring it on – you can always tell them from us.”
Natasha Lyonne went as far as saying that ‘any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds,’ calling the move “deeply misguided and totally disturbed.”
The actors’ union SAG-AFTRA also condemned Tilly, stating that she “is not an actor, but a computer-generated character trained on the work of countless professionals,” and insisting that “audiences aren’t interested in content untethered from the human experience.”
Creator Says Tilly Is “Not a Replacement, but a Piece of Art”
In response to the uproar, Van der Velden clarified on Instagram that “Tilly is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work – a piece of art.” She explained that “creating Tilly has been an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike writing a role or drawing a character,” arguing that AI creations should be seen “as part of their own genre.”
She urged critics to recognise that “each form of art has its place,” suggesting that AI should be welcomed “as one more way to express ourselves, alongside theatre, film, painting and music.”
Van der Velden concluded that “when we celebrate all forms of creativity, we open doors to new voices and new stories.”
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