She is introduced in this clip.

As you would have read in the first frame, she and everyone else in that clip are entirely the creation of AI.

Meet Tilly Norwood, an up-and-coming on-screen talent who might just be the next big thing.

Norwood, as can be seen in the exclusive clip above, appears to be a talking, waving, bona fide person – she can even cry.

Except she’s not a real-life person: she doesn’t exist off a screen (yet), having instead been birthed via the increasingly sophisticated capabilities of AI software.

But then again, so has the entire sketch above, including all the other actors you see.

Norwood and the sketch are both the work of Particle 6, the UK production company created and led by Eline van de Velden, a former actor-turned-producer who also happens to have a Master’s degree in physics from London’s Imperial College.

“We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that’s the aim of what we’re doing,” van der Velden tells Broadcast International.
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The sketch is also acting as the first on-screen appearance for Norwood, and discussions are now in the works to see if talent agencies want to sign up the AI creation.

The article goes on to describe how the clip was produced.

She initially worked with Chat GPT to generate the script, describing the software as “sort of a writing partner”, detailing the topics and the target audience. “And I briefed in details about the industry, the types of things that are funny about our business.”

It was, she says, a similar process to briefing a (real human) writer. “It would come back to me with ideas and I would be an exec producer effectively, we worked together. I then got feedback from lots of people and we adapted constantly.”.

Next, van der Velden moved onto the visual side of things, divvying up the text between the characters and ensuring they had the prompts to deliver their lines with the right tone and nuance.

“There were so many iterations – I mean, it took a long time, I’m not going to lie. And it’s also about performance, right, because every one of these characters will say the lines differently and you need to instruct them differently.”

The Particle 6 chief points to the part of the sketch when the narrator asks whether Norwood can cry on Graham Norton.

“At first, the line was pronounced as, “but can she cry on Graham Norton”, with the wrong emphasis. And we needed the voice to be more doubtful, so you’re really trying to find the words to describe the emotion. It’s like instructing an actor really and for me it was very much about getting the right performance out of the AI actors because if they’d say it in a wooden way, it wouldn’t have worked at all.”

It is, perhaps, best described as AI directing.

There were endless tweaks – at one point, the sketch had almost 20 characters – while the creation of Norwood has taken much longer still. The character has been built via endless prompts, each of which are designed to ensure she appeals to the right demographics to support her on-screen career.

The entire process took about two months and the result is so realistic, it is uncanny. There is no question in my mind that we are soon going to see entire films that are created by AI starring AI characters.

One of the key issues during the last strike by actors was that their own likeness could not be used by AI to generate new content that did not involve them. So AI will not be allowed to produce new films that feature an AI-generated Nicole Kidman unless she consents. But now production companies can create their own ‘stars’ whom the producers can get to do whatever they want. This is going to be terrible for the vast numbers of people who are currently involved in radio, TV, and films, both on air and behind the scenes.

How will audiences react? Will knowing that the people we are seeing on the screen are not real somehow destroy the suspension of disbelief that is necessary for the viewer to fully enjoy the experience?

Probably not. After all, we already know that scenes that we are watching are the product of writers and actors and are not real, even if based on real-life events. AI-generated films would add just another layer of artificiality that we could soon get used to.

For now, Norwood and her Hollywood dreams are just that, but ultimately any success will come down not to AI but audience reaction.

And for van der Velden, there is no reason to believe that AI talents, and indeed shows entirely created by AI, will not be embraced by viewers as long as they’re getting top-notch storytelling.

“I feel like there’s an equal emotional connection between AI-generated content and real content,” she adds, although perhaps the real question is whether we can even tell the difference anymore.

This video shows how Norwood can be inserted into the series The Last of Us.

But what about the vast numbers of people who play auxiliary roles in the industry, such as reviewers who critique acting, writing, and directing? What about celebrity gossip columnists? Paparazzi? They may well become redundant. How can one write about a director’s vision or the authenticity of an actor’s portrayal?

And award shows? Would it make sense to give a Best Actor award to Tilly Norwood? Would she be put in competition with another actor from a rival AI company?

Live stage productions may end up being the only option for human actors to practice and demonstrate their craft.