The first 100% AI actor is a cause for alarm. But the human connection of great acting can never be replaced
The threat to human creativity from technology took another step closer this week with the appearance of Tilly Norwood, the first 100% AI-generated actor. Unsurprisingly, her unveiling at the Zurich film festival in a comic sketch called AI Commissioner caused an outcry. Emily Blunt described the film as “terrifying” and the actors’ union Sag-Aftra condemned it as “jeopardising performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry”.
There is much that is problematic about Norwood, not least the message her “girl-next-door vibe” sends to young women. But the more serious point is that her face has been made from those of real actors without their knowledge or consent. Her lighthearted debut masks the fact that she is part of a new model of media production that rides roughshod over longstanding norms and laws governing artists and their work.
Hollywood has been anticipating Norwood’s arrival for some time. Films such as the 2002 sci-fi Simone, about a film director who creates the perfect actress on a computer, and 2013’s The Congress, in which an ageing star is digitally scanned by her studio, were remarkably prescient. Last year’s body horror The Substance, starring Demi Moore as a waning celebrity who spawns a younger clone, similarly satirised the industry’s obsession with youth and beauty. Now, Victor Frankenstein-like, the film world is staring the “perfect actress” in the face.
