Hollywood’s powerful actors union SAG-AFTRA has responded to controversial news, which Deadline broke over the weekend, that talent agents are looking to sign AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood for representation.
“SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics,” the guild said in a statement.
“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. 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,” it continued.
“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. Additionally, signatory producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used.”
Actor, comedian and technologist Eline Van der Velden revealed in a panel at the industry-focused Zurich Summit on Saturday that she was in talks with a number of talent agents interested in signing her AI-generated creation, actress Tilly Norwood.
Following Deadline’s newsbreak on Saturday, a host of actors, led by the likes of Melissa Barrera and Kiersey Clemons, publicly voiced their anger over the potential development, with Whoopi Goldberg and Emily Blunt among those to have waded in since.
SAG-AFTRA previously secured protections for actors’ likenesses and performances against AI, in the wake of the 2023 actors strike, sparked by a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The latest statement from the body, representing some 160,000 actors and other entertainment and media professionals – will be seen as a shot across the bow for studios and other media and entertainment companies quietly incorporating AI into their production pipeline.
Van der Velden, who works under the banner of her AI-focused production company Particle 6, and has also just unveiled AI talent studio Xicoia, soft-launched Tilly Norwood on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube over the summer.
She put out a statement on Monday in response to the backlash, emphasizing that she saw Tilly Norwood not as “a replacement for a human being, but a creative work – a piece of art.”
“I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush. Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I’m an actor myself, and nothing – certainly not an AI character – can take away the craft or joy of human performance,” she said.