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By Thomas Westerholm
Life & Trends Reporter
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Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated character created by AI production company Particle6, is featured in a new music video that has drawn a massive amount of backlash online.
The video, which has more than 32,000 views on YouTube at the time of writing, depicts the generated character singing a pro-AI song with lyrics like, "It’s the next evolution, can't you see? AI’s not the enemy, it’s the key."
The caption of the music video seemed to suggest that the creators of Tilly Norwood would try to find a way to advertise it at the Oscars: "Can't wait to go to the Oscars! Does anyone know if they have free valet parking for my flamingo?"
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What is Tilly Norwood?
"Tilly Norwood" was created by comedian and actress Eline Van der Velden, who is the CEO of Particle 6—an AI-focused production agency.
In statements following the drop of the video, Van der Velden claimed Tilly Norwood is not meant to be a replacement option for human actors but "a creative work" that "sparks conversation."
Van der Velden said generating Tilly Norwood required "imagination and craftsmanship," though her creation has previously drawn the ire of Hollywood.
In an email to Newsweek, Van der Velden noted that there is "clearly a market" for AI art and noted that on Instagram, the video drew "many wonderful and positive responses.
"No one person, song or piece of art is universally liked," Van der Velden said, "but we are genuinely excited by the large number of people from inside the wider entertainment industry—from executives to directors and actors—who have reached out to us, impressed with our premium AI capabilities and creative skills, looking for ways to work together."
'No emotion'
Numerous actors have spoken out against the character, and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) labor union released a strong statement in September clarifying that "'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor."
“[Tilly Norwood] is a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers—without permission or compensation," the union wrote.
"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."
SAG-AFTRA added that Tilly Norwood doesn't "solve any problem," but rather creates issues surrounding stolen performances and putting actors out of work.
Van der Velden said her goal with Tilly Norwood is "to create the world’s first global AI superstar.
"We also have major plans for Tilly, some of which will be announced later this year," she said. "Amongst other things, she will be acting—and she will also be talking directly with her fans."
The Backlash
Van der Velden's creation also has not been well-received by viewers online, with comments on the music video being overwhelmingly negative.
"They don't see the human spark, the creativity?" one user asked, quoting a lyric from the song. "Well, yeah... because there isn't any."
"The best argument I've seen yet about how bad AI is," another commenter declared.
'Genuinely chilling'
Other commenters, meanwhile, found it frightening.
"This is literally AI propaganda," one posted. "'Don’t be left out, don’t fall behind / Build your own, and you’ll be free' Genuinely chilling."
In a Reddit post reacting to a Gizmodo story that said Tilly Norwood "dropped" a music video, another user clarified, "No, a brand did. A fictive person doesn't do anything."
"Let's stop calling this an actor, even in quotes," one contributor suggested.
An Unpopular Technology
AI is remarkably unpopular in the United States.
According to a national survey conducted by NBC News and surveying more than 1,000 American voters, only 26 percent viewed AI positively, while 46 percent viewed it negatively.
That split of -20 makes AI less popular than both former presidential candidate Kamala Harris and President Donald Trump.
Still, tech companies are increasingly investing in AI and pushing it to consumers.
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