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An AI-generated "actress" has launched a media tour and networks granting her interviews are turning heads among critics.
Tilly Norwood, developed by the Xicoia AI talent studio, has been billed as the first "actor" created using artificial intelligence. Her name first surfaced in 2025 following reports that talent agencies were eying on signing her.
Now, Norwood is essentially on a press junket where journalists are trying to figure out if it should be taken seriously.
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She first "sat down" with CNN, where it was quickly noted that Norwood isn’t exactly Julia Roberts and that her presence has rankled Hollywood. Norwood was able to describe CNN reporter Elizabeth Wagmeister’s outfit, but the "actress" needed hours of specific prompts to improvise a basic scene.
Norwood’s creator, Eline Van der Velden, insists she’s not trying to replace human actors, but her company, Particle 6 Production, is working on a variety of other AI-generated Hollywood figures.
On NBC, "Today" entertainment correspondent Chloe Melas spoke to Norwood, who told viewers it wasn’t a traditional interview because she "is not real" and felt like talking to ChatGPT. At one point, Melas asked Norwood about recent chatter that AI could eventually lead to human extinction.
"That’s a very serious concern, Chloe, my purpose is to be a creative tool, not a threat," Norwood responded.
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Van der Velden, who was also featured during the NBC interview, called for "really good" regulation and guardrails to prevent AI being misused. Melas noted that Norwood was "glitchy" and "robotic" during the segment.
"I don’t think that she’s coming for our jobs quite yet," the NBC correspondent said.
Norwood has also spoken to CBS News, "creeping out" a reporter in the process, along with The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and the United Kingdom’s ITV. The AI "actor" has already irked the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and now media watchdogs are denouncing the press junket.
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NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck said the interviews "defied logic" on the heels of panic over apocalyptic scenarios about AI extinguishing humankind.
"It illustrated a massive disconnect between marvel over this AI ‘actress’ and the rest of the reporting on NBC and other broadcast networks falling in line with AI executives asserting humanity is at stake unless the government steps in immediately with dramatic and strict regulations," Houck told Fox News Digital.
Podcaster John Ziegler simply called on the press to knock it off.
"This insanity has GOT to be nipped in the bud! We can NOT have multiple ‘legitimate news organizations’ doing ‘interviews’ with AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood as if she is on a media tour, and not even as some sort of technological experiment," Ziegler wrote.
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"Hollywood After Dark" host Matt Jarbo seemed puzzled by the ordeal.
"If the goal was to legitimize the idea of an AI actress, it did the exact opposite. She doesn’t sound convincing, she doesn’t perform convincingly, and when CNN asked her to improvise a basic emotional scene, the whole thing apparently took hours of additional computer work just to produce something usable," Jarbo posted on X.
"And I say that as someone who is pro-AI video. The technology is advancing insanely fast, which makes Tilly feel even more outdated," he continued. "Current AI models are already moving beyond what this ‘actress’ can do. So maybe the anti-AI crowd gets this one."
Mediaite’s Brad Slager questioned why news networks are platforming a faux, artificial intelligence "actress" to begin with.
"It echoes the deeply disturbing display seen when Jim Acosta ‘interviewed’ the dead Parkland High School student, Joaquin Oliver. His parents fabricated an AI version of their deceased son for activist purposes," Slager wrote.
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