HOLLYWOOD, CA — Tilly Norwood has no childhood memories, acting-school training or experiences to draw from when portraying a character — she exists entirely through artificial intelligence software.
Despite that distinction, Tilly’s creator, London-based production company Particle6, is promoting her as an “AI actress” capable of appearing in different roles. Her upcoming feature-film debut has intensified a Hollywood debate over how synthetic performers are created and whether they would displace human actors and upend filmmaking as we know it.
Here are five things to know about Tilly Norwood.
Particle6 announced that Tilly will star in “Misaligned,” a feature-length comedy-drama combining artificial intelligence tools with the work of human directors, writers, editors and other production professionals.
The film will take place in the “Tillyverse,” a surreal digital world where Tilly plays an AI entity that gradually develops humanlike desires, ambitions and shame, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The film, which is currently in early development, was announced this month.
Particle6's tools can currently only generate up to 30 seconds of video, but Particle6 founder Eline van der Velden said she hopes to complete the film within 12 months, Reuters reported.
Van der Velden began developing Tilly after seeing advances in generative video technology at a London conference in 2024, the New York Times reported.
Her team reportedly produced about 2,000 versions before settling on Tilly’s appearance. Early attempts included distorted bodies, extra fingers and images that appeared overly airbrushed or sexualized, according to the Times.
The company eventually used a collection of AI tools to develop Tilly’s appearance, voice and conversational abilities.
For any given role, the creative team reviews and refines multiple AI-generated versions of a scene before deciding which expressions and line readings serve the story best.
“That’s where the critical human eye comes in,” Van der Velden told the LA Times. "The choice-making is important. That’s the creativity right there.”
Tilly can function as a fully AI-generated character directed through written prompts — similar to how a person uses ChatGPT — according to the New York Times. In that mode, the software generates her movements, voice and delivery.
She can also serve as a digital character powered by a human actor’s performance-capture work. Van der Velden has performed scenes that were later displayed onscreen through Tilly.
A third, interactive mode allows Tilly to hold AI-generated conversations, including responding to questions in interviews.
SAG-AFTRA has rejected Particle6’s description of Tilly as an actor, calling her a computer-generated character without emotions or lived experience.
"From Homer and Shakespeare to today’s storytellers, performance has always been a mirror of our shared humanity. No dataset or generative model can capture that spark. A.I. is getting more realistic looking, but audiences will always gravitate to that which is real and true," the union's national executive director, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, said in a statement.
The union contends that AI systems are trained using the work of professional performers without adequate permission, credit or compensation. It has also warned that producers covered by union contracts must follow notice and bargaining requirements when using synthetic performers.
The British performers’ union Equity raised similar concerns, telling Variety that consent, transparency and compensation must be central to the use of digital replicas and AI avatars.
Van der Velden disputes claims that Tilly is intended to replace actors. She has said human performers and filmmakers help develop the character’s backstory, movements and emotional delivery.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Tilly Norwood (@tillynorwood)
Talent agencies initially contacted Particle6 about potentially representing Tilly after she gained widespread attention, van der Velden told the New York Times.
Those conversations reportedly faded as criticism from actors and unions intensified. Van der Velden later told Variety that discussions with agencies ended after September and that Particle6 no longer believes Tilly needs traditional representation.
One agency partner told Variety that representing a synthetic character would create significant complications because Tilly is not a person.
Van der Velden says whether people consider Tilly a person or not, she's just glad people are talking about her.
"Tilly was made to be a talking point," she told Reuters this week. "I'm glad that she's entertaining people, whether it's positively or negatively."
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