Meet Tilly Norwood, the product of “the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) talent studio,” Xicoia. She’s got accounts all over social media, is actively looking for agent representation and studios are reportedly [via Deadline] “circling” to get her in their movies.
Unsurprisingly, this has received a wave of backlash from Hollywood actors and creators alike, alongside humble film and TV fans like me. Emily Blunt has dubbed the move [via Variety] “really scary,” urging agencies “not to do that,” but creator Eline Van der Velden has a different opinion.
“To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work – a piece of art,” Van der Velden said at Zurich Film Festival. “Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity.”
But in a world that’s already charged to the point of explosion, the last thing we need right now is more sparked conversation. Instead of being one of the best AI tools of 2025, Norwood is one of the most unnecessary… but it’s the broader changes to the streaming landscape that I fear the most.
If an AI actor like Tilly Norwood is acceptable, anything in streaming is fair game
I promise you no self-respecting actor in Hollywood is going to work alongside “AI actress Tilly Norwood” https://t.co/RLLoN7ql5hSeptember 27, 2025
On her path to (hopefully) securing an agency for Norwood in the next couple of months, Van der Velden claims she should “judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors.”
But we’re not talking about the likes of gorgeous hand-drawn animation by Studio Ghibli, or painstakingly crafted VFX and CGI we’ve seen hits like Avatar and Dune. Sure, real people have made Norwood what she is, but she’d be acting alongside real people, on real sets, in real life.
As the X post above rightly suggests, there will likely be a big boycott from our favorite A-list names when it comes to working with Norwood… if she even gets that far. If we’re indeed judging her on merit, that means copious auditions, screen tests, rejections and extensive background work.
But that’s what I’m worried about the most. If Norwood is going to succeed anywhere, it’s in the streaming landscape – and once she sneaks into the likes of a Netflix original movie, the floodgates are open.
It’s like dominoes: once one thing becomes acceptable, so does a multitude of others. AI actors could be the gateway for complete AI productions, made by AI crew and produced by AI sponsors. We’re already seeing people experiment with this on a wider level (just look on YouTube), but Norwood is exactly the sort of turning point to make AI reliance commonplace.
Whoopi Goldberg warns against AI “actress” Tilly Norwood and says AI creations can’t replace real actors because “our faces move differently.”“The problem with this, in my humble opinion, is that you are suddenly up against something that’s been generated with 5,000 other… pic.twitter.com/jTTRh0lkwzSeptember 29, 2025
I sound like a dystopian dictator pitting the worth of AI against humans, but I don’t want to open any of the best streaming services around to watch content generated by a machine. The best stories are the ones that come from authentic experiences, heart, and raw vulnerability.
People are messy and so are their lives, and that just can’t be replicated on the big or small screen. As Whoopi Goldberg said on The View: “You know what? Bring it on. You can always tell them from us. We move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently.”
We’re tech people at TechRadar, so obviously we know AI has its time and place. But I can’t help thinking of that viral quote from Joanna Maciejewska when it comes to the likes of Tilly Norwood: “I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes.”
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jasmine.valentine@futurenet.com (Jasmine Valentine)
