The Hollywood spotlight has rarely shone as fiercely on a newcomer as it has on Tilly Norwood. But in a twist fit for a sci-fi blockbuster, Norwood isn’t a rising human starlet—she’s an AI-generated “actress,” crafted by the London-based studio Particle6 Productions, led by Dutch comedian and writer Eline Van der Velden. Her recent unveiling at a Zurich film industry conference has ignited a heated debate across the entertainment world, drawing sharp lines between the promise of technological innovation and the threat it poses to human artistry.
On September 29, 2025, Tilly Norwood made her official debut: a brief, 20-second video parody about making an AI-generated television show, featuring Norwood as a winsome, twenty-something ingénue with brown hair, brown eyes, a British accent, and a burgeoning social media presence. According to France 24 and Reuters, producers claimed that studio executives and talent agents were starting to take notice, with the possibility of a first-of-its-kind talent agency deal looming just a few months away.
But the industry’s reaction was swift and, in many quarters, scathing. On September 30, 2025, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which represents some 160,000 performers, issued a forceful condemnation. “Creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics,” SAG-AFTRA declared in a statement widely circulated by outlets including No Film School and Reuters.
The union’s message left no room for ambiguity. SAG-AFTRA insisted that “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.” The union further argued that such AI creations “have 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.”
This isn’t just a matter of semantics or professional pride. SAG-AFTRA’s statement underscored what’s at stake: “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.” The union even warned Hollywood producers that “they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which generally require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used,” as reported by NBC News.
The controversy over Norwood’s debut is the latest flashpoint in an ongoing battle over AI’s role in the entertainment industry. In 2023, a historic strike by SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) brought Hollywood to a standstill for over 100 days, with both unions demanding—and winning—protections against the unchecked use of AI to replace human creatives. The resulting contract now mandates biannual meetings between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to ensure compliance with evolving federal AI regulations.
Yet, the anxiety among actors and writers remains palpable. As Reuters noted, the ability to convincingly replicate a full-length human film performance with AI stand-ins is still seen as a distant prospect. Still, the notion that talent agents and studios might be considering AI “actors” has struck a nerve. High-profile performers, including Emily Blunt, Lukas Gage, Melissa Barrera, Kiersey Clemons, and EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg, have all voiced their disapproval. Goldberg, speaking on The View, remarked, “It’s a little bit of an unfair advantage. But you know what? Bring it on. Because you can always tell them from us.”
Meanwhile, Eline Van der Velden, the creative force behind Tilly Norwood, has pushed back against the criticism. In a statement on Instagram, Van der Velden described Norwood as “not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work—a piece of art. Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity.” She further argued, “AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors. Each form of art has its place, and each can be valued for what it uniquely brings.”
Van der Velden’s ambitions for Tilly are anything but modest. As she told Broadcast International in July, “We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that’s the aim of what we’re doing.” Still, not everyone is convinced that AI-generated performers are poised to upend the industry. Yves Bergquist, director of AI in media at the University of Southern California’s Entertainment Technology Center, dismissed the hype as “nonsense.” Speaking at The Grill, an entertainment conference in Los Angeles hosted by The Wrap, Bergquist said, “AI music has been a possibility for years and years and years, and we don’t have any major AI artists out there. I think it’s a gimmick. ... Are there going to be digital characters in certain films down the road? Yeah, of course. Are there actually going to be talent that’s digital? ... No, and boo.”
Bergquist’s skepticism is echoed by many industry insiders. Despite the flurry of media attention and the apparent interest from some talent agents, he maintains that there is “zero interest from ‘serious people’ in developing entirely synthetic characters.” As he put it, “Scarlett Johansson has a fan base. Scarlett Johansson is a person.”
For now, Tilly Norwood remains more a showcase for software than a working actress. She has yet to sign with an agency or book any roles, and her star power exists largely in the digital realm. The parody video that introduced her, which first appeared in July, featured 16 AI-generated characters in total, but it was Norwood who captured the industry’s attention—and sparked a firestorm of debate.
Even as the conversation rages, the broader issues raised by Tilly Norwood’s debut are far from resolved. The use of computer-generated imagery is nothing new in Hollywood, and AI-enhanced tools already help de-age actors or create digital doubles for dangerous stunts. But the leap from using AI as a tool to casting AI as a performer has struck many as a bridge too far—at least for now.
In a Facebook post attributed to the character, Tilly Norwood herself declared, “I may be AI generated, but I’m feeling very real emotions right now. I am so excited for what’s coming next!” If nothing else, her arrival has forced Hollywood—and audiences everywhere—to confront what it means to create, to perform, and to be truly human in an increasingly artificial age.
As the dust settles, one thing is clear: the debate over AI’s role in show business is just beginning, and the answers may shape the future of storytelling itself.
