Creator of much-hated AI-generated actor Tilly Norwood…

Creator of much-hated AI-generated actor Tilly Norwood says dozens more are in the pipeline

The creator of the much-hated AI-generated actor Tilly Norwood has teased that dozens more of her kind are in the pipeline.

Eline Van der Velden, an actor and physicist, soft-launched Tilly earlier this year on social media. The white, brunette and brown-eyed AI character sparked an uproar among humans in the entertainment industry.

Mara Wilson, known for her leading role in Matilda, asked on Instagram in September, “And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?”

But Van der Velden has brushed off any concerns that Tilly will take jobs away from human actors, writing in an online statement at the time, “She is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work – a piece of art.”

Now, she has announced that there will be more Tillys entering the industry.

“The plan is to create 40 very diverse characters to build her whole universe and to play in this AI genre with a whole new cast,” Van der Velden told Deadline in a recent interview.

Van der Velden said a few characters are already in the works, “but none are ready for release.”

Deadline reported in September that talent agents were already looking into Tilly.

“When we first launched Tilly, people were like, ‘What’s that?’ and now we’re going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months,” Van der Velden said at the Zurich Summit for creatives.

Mara Wilson, known for her leading role in Matilda, was one of several creatives who criticized Tilly, saying, 'And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?' (Jerod Harris/Getty Images)

But Van der Velden has a long way to go in convincing Tilly’s potential real-life colleagues to back her.

SAG-AFTRA, the Hollywood television and movie actors union, went on strike in 2023, partially because of concerns over AI’s increasing influence in the entertainment industry.

Responding to Tilly, SAG-AFTRA wrote in a statement in September, “The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics.”

Whether you like it or not, Van der Velden said in her new interview, “There is going to be this creative renaissance. There is going to be a change.”

But she also reassured the industry: “I think the traditional film and TV genre will carry on for quite a while, for a long time, maybe forever, as its own genre.

“And I think we’re still going to film with actors. I want to see real actors on screen. I don’t think AI characters will be in that space – it’s not going to move that fast.”