Meet Tilly Norwood: She’s Not Art, She Is Data.
Technology's challenge to human creativity advanced another step in recent days via the debut of this AI-generated actress, the first 100% AI-generated actor. As expected, her premiere at the Zurich film event within a humorous short titled AI Commissioner sparked controversy. Emily Blunt described the film as “terrifying” and Sag-Aftra, the actors' guild, criticized it for “endangering actors' incomes and undermining human artistic value”.
Many concerns arise with Norwood, especially the signal her “approachable” persona sends to female youth. However, the deeper issue is the construction of her face using real actors' likenesses without their knowledge or consent. Her playful premiere obscures the truth that she embodies an innovative system for producing media that rides roughshod over longstanding norms and laws governing artists and their work.
Hollywood has been anticipating Norwood’s arrival for some time. Movies like the 2002 science fiction film Simone, about a film director who creates the perfect actress on a computer, along with 2013's The Congress, where an aging celebrity undergoes digital replication by her studio, were remarkably prescient. Last year's shocker The Substance, starring Demi Moore as a waning celebrity who spawns a younger clone, similarly satirised the industry’s obsession with youth and beauty. Today, much like Victor Frankenstein, cinema faces its “perfect actress”.
The maker of Norwood, performer and author Eline Van der Velden defended her as “not a replacement for a human being”, instead “a work of art”, describing AI as a new tool, like a paintbrush. Based on proponents' views, artificial intelligence will open up film production, as all individuals can create films without major studio backing.
From the Gutenberg press to talkies and TV, each innovative shift has been dreaded and denounced. An Oscar for visual effects wasn't always available, remember. Plus, AI is already integrated into cinema, especially in animation and sci-fi genres. A pair of last year's Academy Award-winning movies – The Brutalist along with Emilia Perez – used AI to enhance voices. Late actors like Carrie Fisher have been brought back for roles after their passing.
But while some welcome such possibilities, and the potential for AI thespians to cut filming budgets significantly, employees in the cinematic field are rightly concerned. The 2023 Hollywood writers’ strike resulted in a partial victory resisting the deployment of artificial intelligence. And even as leading celebrities' thoughts on Norwood are well-documented, once again, it's the lesser-known workers whose positions are most threatened – background and voice actors, makeup artists and production teams.
AI thespians are a sure result of a world saturated with online trash, surgical enhancements and falsehood. As yet, Norwood can’t act or interact. She lacks empathy, since, obviously, she isn't human. She isn't “art” as well; she is pure information. The human connection is the true magic of movies, and that cannot be artificially generated. We watch films to see real people in real locations, feeling real emotions. We don't desire flawless atmospheres.
However, although alerts that Norwood poses a wide-eyed danger to cinema may be overblown, currently, anyway, that isn't to say there are no threats. Laws are sluggish and awkward, while technology advances dizzyingly fast. Additional actions are required to safeguard actors and production teams, and the worth of human inventiveness.
