AI Actress Creator Says Tilly Norwood Won’t Replace Actors

Published: 28 November 2025 Friday. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online

The creator of Tilly Norwood, an artificial intelligence–generated actress, has insisted that the rise of digital performers will not take jobs away from real actors. AI entertainment studio Particle6, led by actor and comedian Eline Van der Velden, unveiled the synthetic actress earlier this year, sparking heated debate across Hollywood. Many fear that AI-driven characters could threaten livelihoods in an industry already unsettled by technological disruption.

Speaking to Sky News, Van der Velden firmly rejected the notion that Tilly Norwood was designed to replace human performers. Instead, she described AI-driven entertainment as a distinct and emerging genre with its own creative direction. “She’s not meant to take jobs in the traditional film,” Van der Velden explained, stressing that Norwood was created to inhabit the AI entertainment space exclusively. “I wanted her to have her own creative path,” she added, arguing that the synthetic star exists to expand creative possibilities, not undermine established careers.

Concerns intensified after actors such as Mary Poppins Returns star Emily Blunt described Norwood as “really, really scary,” while the US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA criticised the technology behind her. The union argued that characters like Norwood depend on vast datasets built from the work of real performers—data often obtained without permission or compensation. “Tilly Norwood is not an actor,” the union said, “but a character generated by a program trained on countless professionals’ work.”

Van der Velden responded that the entertainment industry must adapt rather than resist AI tools. She warned that ignoring the rapid evolution of digital media could ultimately harm creators more than embracing it. “Hollywood is going to have to learn how to work with AI,” she said. “We can’t stop it. If we bury our heads in the sand, our jobs will be gone. But if we learn how to use these tools, especially here in Britain, we can be a creative powerhouse.”

Particle6 maintains that Norwood represents a new frontier in entertainment—one that can coexist with traditional acting while offering innovative storytelling opportunities. As studios, unions and audiences grapple with the implications of AI-generated performers, the debate over their place in the industry is certain to intensify. For now, Tilly Norwood remains a symbol of both creative potential and deep-rooted anxiety about the future of acting in an increasingly digital world.