SAG-AFTRA, an American labour union, has trashed a newly launched AI talent studio over the headline-making AI actress, Tilly Norwood.
On Tuesday, September 30, the union shared their stance on "AI talent", noting, "Creativity is, and should remain, human-cantered."
Over the weekend, the creator of the computer-generated actress Tilly Norwood responded to critics after news broke that her studio was looking to get Norwood representation.
Eline Van der Velden was met with outrage; however, she later shared in an Instagram post that Tilly "is not a replacement for a human being" but a tool.
SAG-AFTRA, the US labour union that represents actors and other talent, has now weighed in on the unexpected issue, noting, "The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics."
"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," said SAG-AFTRA.
"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," the statement added.
They continued, "It doesn’t solve any 'problem' — it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardising performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry."
The looming threat of AI has continued to panic the film and TV industry, as many worry that such intense use of AI could one day replace humans.
Melissa Barrera, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Lukas Gauge, Mara Wilson and Toni Collette were among the stars condemning the news of Tilly Norwood's possible signing.
Emily Blunt also reacted to the news of the AI actress, calling the idea "really scary". She addressed the agencies, "Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection."
Notably, Van der Velden revealed the project during the Zurich Summit at the Zurich Film Festival and told attendees that studios are quietly developing similar experiments and that further announcements are expected in the coming months.
