In 2025, the entertainment industry witnessed a historic milestone with the introduction of Tilly Norwood, the first virtual actress created with artificial intelligence, developed by Xicoia, the artificial intelligence arm of the London production company Particle6. Founded by Dutch producer Ellen van der Velden, the project embodies a fusion of creative storytelling and advanced machine learning, sparking important discussions about the future of performance art.
The development of this character sparked various reactions in Hollywood, marking a turning point in the development of entertainment technology that blends traditional methods with modern computational techniques.
Technically, this digital entity was created using generative AI models trained on massive datasets including facial features, voice patterns, and body movements extracted from thousands of representations. Although this approach raises some concerns, it opens new horizons for creative expression.
The technology combines these elements to produce a realistic digital character capable of appearing in multiple situations, while displaying a wide range of convincing emotions.
Norwood made her first appearance in July 2025 in the film “AI Commissioner,” highlighting the project’s technical capabilities. She also launched an Instagram account two months earlier, in which she displayed a variety of content, from informal selfies to elaborate cinematic scenes, attracting followers who interacted with her as if she were a real person.
Following this initial success, Van der Velden presented Norwood during the Zurich Film Festival in September 2025, where she discussed media companies’ interest in AI-generated talent, noting that production costs could be reduced by up to 90%.
This announcement sparked widespread reactions within the sector, ranging from concern to cautious optimism. A number of prominent actors expressed their concerns, with some describing the development as disturbing, while others doubted the audience’s ability to emotionally relate to an actress who has not experienced real life. These concerns are legitimate, and require setting clear frameworks that ensure that technology is a partner to human creativity and not a substitute for it.
In response, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) issued a statement that raised questions about the consent of training data subjects and financial compensation mechanisms.
The union confirmed that artificial intelligence models are trained on the actions of countless real actors, often without obtaining permission, and stressed the need to establish clear obligations when using artificial characters in artistic productions.
These discussions bring to mind the issues of the Hollywood strikes of 2023, when the industry began drafting guidelines governing the creative partnership between humans and artificial intelligence. Striking a balance between protecting artists and supporting technological progress is likely to be the most prominent challenge that will define the next phase of the entertainment industry.
Van der Velden described Norwood as a creative tool rather than a substitute for human talent, comparing AI to technologies such as animation and computer imaging (CGI) that have expanded the horizons of creativity without eliminating traditional performance.
She believes that the audience interacts with the moving story regardless of the medium used, and that human creativity is the constant driver of artistic innovation throughout the entire creative process.
She emphasizes that this cooperative vision is the ideal goal, provided that it is governed by clear and fair ethical controls. As the industry continues to evolve, the Tilly Norwood project stands as an outstanding achievement and milestone, galvanizing the creative community to envision a future in which human imagination and computational innovation collaborate to push the boundaries of artistic narrative.
