SAG-AFTRA Hits Out at Tilly Norwood, the AI-Generated 'Actress' That Has Enraged Hollywood

SAG-AFTRA has issued a powerfully worded connection successful effect to the emergence of Tilly Norwood, the AI-generated “actress” that has enraged Hollywood.

Tilly Norwood is simply a viral AI-generated instauration pushed arsenic the adjacent Scarlett Johansson oregon Natalie Portman. It was created by Eline Van der Velden, the Dutch laminitis of AI institution Particle 6 Productions. Van der Velden sparked a backlash aft announcing caller endowment workplace Xicoia, which Deadline reported was already successful talks with a fig of endowment agents funny successful signing Tilly Norwood.

— Tilly Norwood (@TillyNorwood) September 28, 2025

The Hollywood assemblage was speedy to condemn Tilly Norwood and its creators, arsenic good arsenic pass producers against dealing with it. Scream’s Melissa Barrera wrote: "Hope each actors repped by the cause that does this, driblet their a$. How gross, work the room.” Matilda’s Mara Wilson said: "Shame connected these people. They person stolen the faces of hundreds of young women to marque this AI ‘actress.’ They’re not creators. They’re individuality thieves."

The Fantastic Four’s Ralph Ineson, who played Galactus successful the MCU movie, was much direct, posting “F*** off” connected X / Twitter.

Now, the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has released a statement, informing producers against utilizing “synthetic performers” without complying with its contractual obligations.

Here's SAG-AFTRA's connection successful full:

SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The national is opposed to the replacement of quality performers by synthetics.To beryllium clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a quality generated by a machine programme that was trained connected the enactment of countless nonrecreational performers — without support oregon compensation. It has nary beingness acquisition to gully from, nary emotion and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t funny successful watching computer-generated contented untethered from the quality experience. It doesn’t lick immoderate ‘problem’ — it creates the occupation of utilizing stolen performances to enactment actors retired of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing quality artistry. Additionally, signatory producers should beryllium alert that they whitethorn not usage synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which necessitate announcement and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to beryllium used.

Norwood’s "acting career" frankincense acold lone comprises the showreel supra and a azygous AI-generated drama sketch called AI Commissioner, below. “I whitethorn beryllium AI generated, but I’m feeling precise existent emotions close now,” a station connected the Tilly Norwood X / Twitter leafage said connected the time it was released. “I americium truthful excited for what’s coming next!”

— Tilly Norwood (@TillyNorwood) September 28, 2025

Creator Van der Velden addressed the backlash to importune Tilly Norwood “is not a replacement for a quality being.”

“To those who person expressed choler implicit the instauration of my AI character, Tilly Norwood: she is not a replacement for a quality being, but a originative enactment — a portion of art,” Van der Velden said successful a station released connected the Tilly Norwood societal media pages. “Like galore forms of creation earlier her, she sparks conversation, and that successful itself shows the powerfulness of creativity.

“I spot AI not arsenic a replacement for people, but arsenic a caller tool, a caller paintbrush. Just arsenic animation, puppetry, oregon CGI opened caller possibilities without taking distant from unrecorded acting, AI offers different mode to ideate and physique stories. I’m an histrion myself, and thing — surely not an AI quality — tin instrumentality distant the trade oregon joyousness of quality performance.

"Creating Tilly has been, for me, an enactment of imaginativeness and craftmanship, not dissimilar drafting a character, penning a relation oregon shaping a performance. It takes time, skill, and iteration to bring specified a quality to life. She represents experimentation, not substitution. Much of my enactment has ever been astir holding up a reflector to nine done satire, and this is nary different."

Van der Velden soft-launched Tilly earlier this year, creating accounts for the quality connected TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, implicit with AI-generated selfies of Tilly alongside captions similar “Hey besties.”

“We were successful a batch of boardrooms astir February time, and everyone was like, ‘No, this is nothing. It’s not going to happen.’” Van der Velden said connected a sheet astatine the Zurich Summit reported connected by Deadline.

“Then, by May, radical were like, ‘We request to bash thing with you guys.’ When we archetypal launched Tilly, radical were like, ‘What’s that?’ and present we’re going to beryllium announcing which bureau is going to beryllium representing her successful the adjacent fewer months.”

Speaking to Broadcast International successful July, Van der Velden said she wanted Tilly Norwood “to beryllium the adjacent Scarlett Johansson oregon Natalie Portman.”

Image credit: Particle6 TV / YouTube.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].