One day after SAG-AFTRA denounced the suggestion that an AI “actress” named Tilly Norwood could soon be signed to a Hollywood talent agency, more acting unions spoke out Thursday, saying the performer is “nothing but lines of code.”
Canada’s ACTRA union and the U.K.’s Equity joined SAG-AFTRA in criticizing the new tech development and argued that AI cannot replace human talent. Their rejection came days after rumors of the AI actress lit up Hollywood.
“Like any other art form, you can’t just copy and repackage it as your own,” the official X account for ACTRA posted Thursday. “The recent ‘synthetic performer’ case is a wake-up call for lawmakers — a clear reminder why moral rights matter. Unchecked AI must be regulated now.”
In a separate statement to the Hollywood Reporter, ACTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Marie Kelly added: “Tilly’s existence is nothing but lines of code, wrongfully based and programmed from actual human performance. There is no place in our industry, and no use in the humanity of art, for replacing performers with synthetics. ACTRA rejects any attempt to do so.”
Kelly continued: “Performers are concerned about their craft, their place in the world of entertainment and their livelihoods. They have always competed against thousands of other performers for work but are now faced with synthetic competition. Aside from the fact that the synthetic ‘performer’ doesn’t eat, consume goods, pay taxes or otherwise contribute to our society, they don’t engage audiences using human creativity.”
Equity echoed those statements in their own. They called for the “Wild West” of AI to end and “robust protections must be implemented to ensure artists’ work is not stolen.”
“Equity is supporting a member who believes her image and performance is included in the creation of the new AI actress without her permission,” the statement read. “The lack of transparency around this – and so many other – AI creations represent these problems. The industry desperately needs a system of transparency, consent and remuneration to ensure that performers’ rights are respected and upheld.”
The statement concluded: “Technological advancements must not come at the expense of those who bring art to life.”
These latest union statements came after Dutch actress, comedian and digital producer Eline Van der Velden suggested at a Zurich summit last week that her creation Tilly Norwood could get signed by an agency “in the coming months.”
On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA also decried the idea of AI actors gaining representation and replacing human performers.
“SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics,” the Screen Actors Guild shared in their statement.
“To be clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers — without permission or compensation. It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience,” they continued. “It doesn’t solve any ‘problem’ — it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.”
Actors like Melissa Barrera, Emily Blunt, Simu Liu, Lukas Gage, Mara Wilson and Nicholas Alexander Chavez all spoke out about artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry.
