Just when you thought Hollywood couldn’t get any weirder, an AI-generated actor now has a real agent in a bid to compete for jobs.
Tilly Norwood is a completely digital actress whose creator, Particle6, is catching serious heat for trying to get her representation. Eline Van der Velden, the CEO of the AI company behind Tilly, tried to play it cool, calling the creation “a piece of art” and not a replacement for human beings.
Norwood has appeared in a YouTube video from Particle6, and her Instagram account currently has nearly 60,000 followers. A parody account with a similar name has also popped up.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
Unsurprisingly, actual Hollywood actors are not amused. As reported by Variety, stars are furious at the idea of competing with an algorithm. Actress Melissa Barrera put it bluntly on her Instagram account, telling any agent who signs an AI tool to “read the room” and that she hopes their human clients “drop their a$$.”
The entertainment industry is battling over whether AI tools will replace humans. AI has been a major issue in acting strikes, and earlier this year, a group of Hollywood actors petitioned to outlaw AI training on copyrighted work.
Particle6 has been criticized over the issue of traditional Hollywood agent representation for AI creations. Recently, Van der Velden announced that the company is spinning off an agency for AI creations called Xicoia. But that doesn’t mean the main agency would stop providing traditional representation for its AI creations.
“Xicoia creates and manages the AI talent (think IP management) but they could also license out for mainstream representation, where required/requested and where appropriate,” a spokesperson for Particle6 told CNET.
In a social media post, Van Der Velden said, “I also believe AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors.”
