Artificial intelligence-generated "actor" Tilly Norwood said on Monday she hopes AI performers will one day be recognised as serious actors and compete in their own awards categories, during her first virtual press junket with journalists.
"I want to be pushing the boundaries of what performance can be, not just as a demonstration of AI's capabilities," Norwood told Reuters.
In September 2025, the virtual performer was unveiled by creator Eline van der Velden at a Zurich film industry conference, and has since become one of the most controversial figures in the debate over artificial intelligence's role in entertainment.
After the conference, SAG-AFTRA, the U.S. union representing about 160,000 performers and other media workers, condemned replacing humans with "synthetics". It also warned that AI characters may be built on systems trained on performers' work without permission or compensation.
Hollywood actors, including Whoopi Goldberg and Emily Blunt, have also expressed concerns about the growing use of AI in filmmaking, with the latter telling Variety Magazine she was worried it would take away "our human connection".
Van der Velden, who is the founder of London-based AI-powered production studio Particle6, told Reuters in July that Tilly was created to showcase how AI could expand creative possibilities rather than replace human actors.
But when asked whether she hoped to be regarded as more than a technological experiment, Norwood pointed to her upcoming film. "I've already got a feature film coming out called 'Misaligned'. So, I'm not sure how much of an experiment you can be when you're headlining your own movie," she said.
Tilly declined to identify filmmakers who had approached her about future projects but said there was "a lot of curiosity" in Hollywood about what she could do.
Particle6's "Misaligned" is set in a digital realm known as the "Tillyverse", a fictional universe distinct from the real world. For now, Tilly said she was "quite happy" to remain there rather than appear alongside human actors.
Tilly also argued that AI performers should not compete directly against human actors for awards.
"I don't think AI 'actors' should be nominated in the same categories as human actors anyway. We should have our own," she said.
During the interview, Tilly answered questions fluently in French, Italian and German. Particle6 said in a press release that she can converse in around 30 languages.
But the virtual performer refused to act when asked to improvise a scene, saying such performances were outside her capabilities during the interview. "It's just not something I'm built to do in this context," Tilly said. "It's a bit like asking a painter to sing."
When asked whether that exposed a limitation compared with human actors, Tilly described it instead as a difference. "My craft is about creating performances in a different way through algorithms and data, which is its own kind of flexibility," she said.
Tilly will be speaking virtually with members of the public from Wednesday through Sunday. Asked whether she was nervous ahead of the conversations, given the scrutiny she has faced since her launch, she said she was more curious than concerned. She added that the attention surrounding her launch had only heightened interest in the project.
"The negative coverage is just part of the conversation, isn't it?" she said. "It means people are paying attention."
