Hollywood's influential actors union on Tuesday blasted Tilly Norwood, an AI-generate "actress" it argues will put humans out of jobs. Photo by TreptowerAlex/Pixabay
Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Hollywood's actors union SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday sounded the alarm over reports that talent agents are interested in signing Tilly Norwood, an actress generated by artificial intelligence.
SAG-AFTRA's statement opposing the replacement of "human performers by synthetics" comes days after Deadline reported that AI studio Xicoia has engaged with multiple agents who are interested in signing the digital creation Tilly Norwood for representation.
Studios' use of AI technology was a central issue in the 2023 SAG-AFTRA-led strike that was the longest actors' work stoppage in Hollywood history. Now, Norwood's emergence points to an ongoing source of dispute between studios and actors.
"To be clear, '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," SAG-AFTRA said in the statement. "It has 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."
