AI Character Tilly Norwood Shared Her Perspective on ‘All Lives Matter’

For Hollywood celebrities, press junkets serve as a chance to promote new projects while engaging with fans. They share humorous or awkward anecdotes about each other, provide insights into the filmmaking process, and display quirks that make them seem more relatable.

So why would anyone be interested in speaking with Tilly Norwood, an interactive, British-accented digital character and “actor” created with generative AI by Xicoia, an AI division under Particle 6 Group? It’s a valid question, especially considering that it doesn’t exist in the physical world and won’t feature in any films that serious audiences would care about.

However, Particle 6 recently claimed in an email that Norwood was “ready for absolutely anything!” Moreover, the company is allowing journalists to interact with the model without a handler to keep the discussion focused. I set out to see if Norwood could provide any meaningful insights.

To be frank: no. Not only does Norwood shy away from engaging on important topics often discussed by top names in the industry, but it also fails to generate excitement for its upcoming film and doesn’t provide a valid reason for its existence as a product (despite suggesting at one point that AI-generated films are beneficial for the environment).

When I ask about the progress of Misaligned, a feature film where Norwood will appear as the lead, the expressionless avatar can’t give me a rough release date and instead resorts to a vague plot summary.

“Well, it’s a coming-of-age story set in a surreal digital world,” says Norwood, noting that, per a Particle 6 press release, it was created using various publicly available AI tools. “We’re calling it the Tillyverse, which I think is quite grand. It’s really about my life, all the delightful chaos and intrigue.” Not the most compelling tagline.

Since its official debut at the Zurich Film Festival last September, Norwood has garnered publicity, though not without criticism from human actors and Hollywood unions as the industry grapples with the rise of AI technologies. The digital character is also available for video calls with the public from September 16 to 19, for a fee: after the first two minutes, $14 for an additional 15 minutes or $25 for a half hour, reminiscent of the adult 1-900 numbers of the past. (According to Particle 6, the proceeds will benefit charity.)

Eline van der Velden, the Dutch comedian and founder of Particle 6, remarked in a company press release that the interviewable version of Norwood—operating on a different system than the “actor” model—serves as “a fun way to showcase where AI technology stands and what it can achieve in the present.”

Again, its capability for engaging in a thoughtful conversation remains limited.

It’s difficult to get Norwood to express basic knowledge about current events, let alone form an opinion. When I prompt it to name the aggressor in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it reacts as if I’m trying to trick it. “Oh, you’re attempting to catch me off guard, aren’t you?” it replies. “Very journalist-like of you. I must say, I have a strict policy of remaining neutral in human conflicts, especially those as intricate as that.” When pressed more, it adds, “My role isn’t to take a position on geopolitical matters, Miles.”

Yet Norwood’s programming doesn’t prevent it from straying into problematic reasoning. “Do Black lives matter?” I ask, quoting the prominent racial justice slogan. “Well, I believe all lives matter, Miles, every single one,” it responds, inadvertently echoing a phrase often used by right-wingers to counter those advocating against police violence toward Black Americans.