AI-Generated Actress sparks Hollywood Debate on Creative Boundaries
LOS ANGELES, CA – September 30, 2025 – Teh emergence of Tilly Norwood, an actress entirely fabricated by artificial intelligence, is igniting a fierce debate within Hollywood regarding the role and recognition of AI-generated creative work. The controversy centers on whether AI-created performers should be evaluated alongside their human counterparts, or considered a distinct artistic category.
the debate escalated after Eline Van der Velden, responding to criticism, defended Norwood as a “creative work” – akin to animation, puppetry, or special effects – rather than a substitute for human actors. This statement,made Sunday on Instagram,underscores a growing tension as AI increasingly permeates the entertainment industry,challenging established norms and raising questions about authorship,artistry,and the future of performance. The stakes are high, potentially reshaping casting practices, intellectual property rights, and the very definition of acting.
Norwood’s creation highlights a rapidly evolving landscape. This summer, the virtual musical group The Velvet Sundown surpassed one million listeners on Spotify, demonstrating AI’s growing appeal to audiences. Vogue magazine further pushed boundaries in it’s August issue by featuring an AI-generated model in an advertising campaign.
Van der Velden articulated a vision where AI-created actors “should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly to human actors.” She emphasized that AI offers “another way of imagining and building stories,” drawing parallels to established techniques that expand storytelling possibilities without diminishing live performance. As an actress herself, Van der Velden’s perspective adds weight to the argument for recognizing AI-generated performers as a unique form of artistic expression.
