When Al came for Hollywood

World view

- By MAUREEN DOWD

In the immortal words of Emily Blunt, “Good Lord, we're screwed.”She was on a podcast with Variety Monday when she was handed a headline about cinema’s latest sensation, Tilly Norwood.

Agents are circling the hot property, a fresh-faced young British brunette actress who is attracting global attention.

Norwood is AI, and Blunt is PO’d. In fact, she says, she’s terrified.

Told that Tilly’s creator, Eline Van der Velden, a Dutch former actress with a master’s in physics, wants her to be the next Scarlett Johansson, Blunt protested, “But we have Scarlett Johansson.”

All over Hollywood, actresses are cursing Tilly, her Pygmalion, Van der Velden, and the increasingly withdrawn men who prefer to be turned on by eternally youthful and preternaturally gorgeous AI replicas.

And all over Hollywood, suits are licking their chops at the prospect of more malleable actors. “She's not going to talk back,” one top talent wrangler said dryly.

They may be alarmed by one Al actress now, but as Al expert Nate Soares, a coauthor of the bestseller “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies,” explains, “AI is less like one actress and more like a puppeteer behind lots of different characters.”

Checking out Tilly’s image, Blunt was clearly nettled. “That is really, really scary,” she told Variety. “Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection.”

I fear it’s too late.