Table of Contents
If you're like me – an actor in her early 20's who thought Mckenna Grace was gonna be your biggest competition, well guys, we've got another thing coming. Put yourself in the mind of a studio exec for one second. You've got a million bucks and you drive your Tesla down the streets of Beverly Hills for work every day. You are presented with a young attractive actor who can give the exact performance you desire at any hour of the day, or night, (because she surely isn't bound by equity contract standards). She can cry on cue, she does her own stunts, she's even fully trained in every accent in the world! A true triple threat... are you starting to sweat a little? As a studio exec, that sounds like an easy hire!
F.Y.I., there's no need to go enroll in a bunch of classes to try and keep up with this new star – it isn't humanly possible. Actually, it isn't human at all. Introducing Tilly Norwood: the first AI actor.
Particle6, according to their website, is "Europe’s leading up-and-coming AI production studio." Their mission is to "pioneer new ways to create compelling content - seamlessly blending AI innovation with traditional filmmaking to push the boundaries of what’s possible." But how much traditional are we really working with here? Tilly, if you will, has a fully functioning instagram! In an attempt not to hurt its feelings—and for the simplicity of writing this article —we will be referring to Tilly as she/her, because misgendering a robot is far above my pay grade. Thus far, she has shared her recent (and very impressive) film reel, her favorite iced coffees, and her recent shopping hauls. I know a few micro-influencers who are shaking their boots. She has even posted a parody of Sydney Sweeneys American Eagle blue jean ad, where she says "My genes are binary." It's no question that her social media presence is fully posing as a human. She even has her own website with stills from her prior projects, and links to her many social media platforms.
As strange and unnecessary as this sounds, we have to admit that many of us are captivated by AI content. I personally prefer the "You haven't sleep in 3 days which AI bed are you napping the hardest in??" videos, but that's just me. So truthfully, what's so bad about this? Well, the most controversial part of this new development comes from a recent quote from Tilly's creator, Eline Van der Velden:
"When we first launched Tilly, people were like, 'What's that?,' and now we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months."
So riddle me this: how is she going to be signed by anyone, she hasn't got hands to do the signing (and even her fake ones have too many fingers)!? But the statement was made, and now the first AI actress is reportedly having business meetings to find an agency that can best represent her.
It goes without saying... this is crazy. The actors union, SAG-AFTRA, was on strike for 118 days in 2023,fighting for rights against AI when it came to actors' name/image likeness, voice replication, and unregulated script generation. On September 30th, 2025, the union released the following statement:
"SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics"..." 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers — without permission or compensation. 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. Additionally, signatory producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used."
It's safe to say that after months of fighting against AI, SAG-AFTRA has had it with having to stand up for its members against some pixelated data. ACTRA, the union based in Canada has shared its condemnation as well stating:
"It is one hundred percent not an actor. Its an amalgamation of hundreds if not thousands of professional actors and performers who have not been compensated at all for this." - Alistar Hepburn, ACTRA's executive director
This idea was confirmed by Particle6 themself, they shared they hope Tilly will be the "next Scarlett Johansson", as if Marvel needs more cheap CGI.
Some A-list actors are publicly fighting back on this as well. But I'm a Cheerleader star Natasha Lyonne stands with the unions, saying,
"Any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds!"
Most recently academy award nominee Emily Blunt was presented with a video of Tilly and had this to say:
"That's an AI? Good Lord, we're screwed"..."That is really, really scary, Come on, agencies, don't do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection."
And that truly is the biggest concern. Sure, there's the quintessential problem that AI takes our jobs away by being cheaper, faster, and, well, better. But on a more realistic scale, AI actors like Tilly Norwood lack an authentic human connection, which has been essential for effective storytelling. Perhaps we could see a future where AI films are an entirely new genre of film. Imagine scrolling through Netflix and seeing your recommendations listed as: Comedy, Drama, Documentary, Artificial Intelligence. It’s unnerving, to say the least. While we hope the unions we trust can step in to protect human performers, the reality is that this conversation is just getting started—and there’s no simple solution in sight. One things for sure, no matter how advanced, a robot can’t pass the popcorn, or the emotions, down the row.
