Creator says AI actress Tilly Norwood is 'piece of art' after Hollywood backlash

In a lengthy post on Norwood's Instagram page, Van der Velden defended the character and insisted she was not a job killer.

"She is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work – a piece of art. Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity.

"I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool... AI offers another way to imagine and build stories."

During an episode of the talk show The View, EGOT-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg reacted to the controversy, stating: "After many human actors called for a boycott against agencies who sign AI actors, the studio claims Tilly is not a replacement for a human being but a creative work and AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, rather than compared directly with human actors.

"The problem with this, in my humble opinion, is that you are suddenly up against something that's been generated with 5,000 other a ctors...It's got Bette Davis' attitude, it's got Humphrey Bogart's lips…And so it's a little bit of an unfair advantage."

The use of AI has become increasingly visible in recent months in the creative industries, generating controversy each time. The virtual band The Velvet Sundown surpassed one million listeners on streaming platform Spotify this summer and in August, Vogue magazine published an advertisement featuring an AI-generated model.