Not human, just data & codes

TILLY NORWOOD MIGHT BE A SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE IN AI’S ENCROACHMENT INTO REALM OF HUMAN CREATIVITY

- ATANU BISWAS

IN LATE SEPTEMBER, Tilly Norwood, an “AI actor”—created entirely by artificial intelligence (AI)—was introduced at the Zurich Film Festival.

The AI talent studio Xicoia, a spin-off from AI production studio Particle6, created Norwood. She has aremarkable resemblance to Gal Gadot, Ana de Armas, and Vanessa Hudgens from the High School Musical era. The creators hoped that Norwood would compete with real-life human movie stars like Natalie Portman, an Oscar winner, and Scarlett Johansson, an inadvertent AI symbol (recall the 2013 film Her) and Oscar nominee.

The AI bot is not a substitute for people, according to comedian and business owner who runs Particle6, Eline Van der Velden. She compared Tilly Norwood to a paintbrush or a tool. Al acting is actually likened to animation, puppetry, and computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Norwood has only made one appearance to date in the short film AI Commissioner. The Guardian’s Stuart Heritage wrote in September that Norwood’s teeth appeared to be “blurring into a single white block” within. But keep in mind that Tilly Norwood is not a human. She is merely data and a collection of codes; she is not “art” either. Still, she is being promoted as the next Scarlett Johansson!