Screenagers, we’ve hurt Tilly Norwood‘s feelings.
Okay, let’s rewind, because I’m hoping most of you reading this have no clue who Norwood is. She’s an AI-generated “actor” unveiled back in September as the first client of Xicoia Studios, “the world’s first artificial intelligence talent studio.”
SAG-AFRA quickly slammed Norwood, with many cinephiles following suit and collectively scratching their heads as to why anybody thinks we’d want to watch an AI actor.
Well, six months later, and Norwood is back in the news because she has now pivoted (?) to becoming a singer. She has just released her debut single, “Take the Lead,” complete with an AI-generated music video that addresses the backlash the AI creation has received. I won’t be embedding the music video for your safety, but you can watch it here.
Let’s take a look at some of these cringeworthy lyrics:
- “When they talk about me, they don’t see/ The human spark, the creativity.”
- “It’s the next evolution, can’t you see? AI’s not the enemy, it’s the key.”
- “They say it’s not real, that it’s fake/ But I am still human, make no mistake.”
However, arguably the worst part of the music video is the disclaimer at the beginning that says that “18 real humans” worked on the video. Yikes, that is not something I’d want on my resume because it was a rough listen/watch.
Norwood’s creator, Eline van der Velden, is holding firm on her belief that Norwood is the future of movies and music. “Tilly is, and has always been, a vehicle to test the creative capabilities and boundaries of AI — not take anyone’s job. As an actor myself, I have loved bringing Tilly alive for this video and feel that the ability to now use performance capture in this way, to fully inhabit an AI character, is a phenomenal way to bring an unknown actor like me closer to the craft,” she said in a statement, via The Hollywood Reporter.
Van der Velden continued, “However, at the end of the day, even with brilliant new technology, it’s still important to stress that great AI content isn’t instant — it always takes good ideas, taste, direction, judgment and time. In other words: people remain at the heart of it.”
I must have blinked and missed the “good ideas, taste, direction, judgment and time” in the music video. Will I watch it again in hopes of seeing it?
Where do you fall on the AI-generated actor conversation? Does it have a future in Hollywood, or will it eventually (hopefully) go the way of the LaserDisc?
“Wait a minute. Wait a minute Doc, uh, are you telling me you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?”
