The creator of controversial AI actress Tilly Norwood has faced death threats since unveiling the character.
Last year Dutch comedian Eline Van der Velden announced Tilly’s arrival at the Zurich Film Festival.
However, the backlash was immediate, with union SAG-AFRTA saying AI performers like her create ‘the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardising performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry’.
Although the actress now boasts over 93,000 followers, she’s been slammed by stars including Emily Blunt, Natasha Lyonne, Sophie Turner and Toni Colette.
Nearly a year on, Van der Velden has now revealed she’s been facing such intense criticism that she’s been forced to file police reports.
In a recent interview with Page Six, the publication reported that just moments before signing onto a Zoom call, she received a death threat.
It was ‘one of many she’s been getting these days’, with the comedian and creator then having to phone the police to file a report.
‘They say there’s no humanity behind it, and then they go after the human behind it. It’s interesting to me,’ she told the publication, who reported she ‘shrugged’ while sharing the news.
Despite coming under fire, Van der Velden has said the public outrage has been outweighed by ‘loads and loads’ of Hollywood figureheads discussing her creation with her behind closed doors.
‘The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive,’ she said, but declined to name anyone who had privately expressed support.
‘Directors have reached out. They want to work with Tilly,’ she added.
Meanwhile, publicist Michelle Waldron shared: ‘People who were detracting four months ago have now seen the light and understood.
‘Because a lot of people got swept away by the headlines without reading the full story. Now that they have, they’re like, “Actually, this could be useful for me.”‘
Although van der Velden said the response to Tilly in the UK, where she now lives, was ‘fairly relaxed’, this was not the case in Hollywood.
Pushing back against critics, she encouraged them to loosen up. ‘She’s for entertainment purposes. She’s not to be taken too seriously. It’s meant to be a bit of fun. AI is a bit funny,’ she said.
Speaking about the fact that Tilly wasn’t even fully AI, the comedian and creator ‘made it clear’ she was the actress, but was now ‘acting through a proxy’.
Shutting down concerns that Tilly has been trained on real actors, Van der Velden said they used footage like publicly available home footage rather than movies.
She also said her vision was for actors to engage with emerging technologies, like the one behind Tilly, to ‘future-proof’ their careers.
Soon after Tilly was rolled out publicly, it was revealed that talent agents were keen to hire her, leading to some Hollywood stars including Blunt to slam the move and declare the development would ‘take away our human connection’.
Meanwhile, Scream actress Melissa Barrera called the creation of Tilly and the interest in hiring her ‘gross’.
However, Van der Velden has been adamant that Tilly was not created with the intention that she could take work from human actors.
Instead, she wants her to be included alongside human actors, with ‘clear distinctions and expectations for each kind of star’.
‘I think Tilly should stay in a world that doesn’t inhabit real actors, because I wouldn’t want her to take the job of a real actor, even though it’s me behind it,’ she said.
‘Don’t worry – we’ll still have human actors. That was always the plan. The plan was not for her to take someone’s role in a real film or TV series. She’s in her own world, and that’s where she’ll stay.’
Although many have expressed concern about the development and potential hiring of AI actors, last month, Chris Pratt said he was unfazed.
‘I don’t feel like someone’s gonna replace me,’ he insisted.
He added that the panic surrounding synthetic AI performers like Tilly was ‘all bulls***’. ‘I don’t feel like someone’s gonna replace me that’s AI,’ he went on. ‘I heard this Tilly Norwood thing, I think that’s all bulls***. I’ve never seen her in a movie. I don’t know who this b**** is. It’s all fake until it’s something.’
Last year Van der Velden released a statement claiming Tilly ‘was not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work’.
‘Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity,’ she said.
Do you think AI actors will become common place in Hollywood?
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No way
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Yes, I think it's inevitable
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Undecided
‘I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush. Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories.
‘I’m an actor myself, and nothing – certainly not an AI character – can take away the craft or joy of human performance.’
She said that ‘creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role, or shaping a performance’. ‘AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits’, not compared directly to human beings,’ she added.
Metro has contacted representatives for Eline Van der Velden for additional comment.
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