NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Like thousands of actors,<\/a> Tilly Norwood is looking for a Hollywood agent.<\/p>\n But unlike most young performers aspiring to make it in the film industry, Tilly Norwood is an entirely artificial intelligence-made character. Norwood, dubbed Hollywood’s first \u201cAI actor,\u201d is the product of a company named Xicoia, which bills itself as the world’s first artificial intelligence talent studio.<\/p>\n Since the Dutch producer and comedian Eline Van der Velden launched the digital character’s prospective career, Tilly Norwood has been all the talk in Hollywood.<\/p>\n But not in a good way. Guilds, actors and filmmakers have met the Xicoia product with an immediate wave of backlash, protesting that artificial intelligence<\/a> should not have a starring role in the acting profession. In a statement Tuesday<\/a>, the Screen Actors Guild said that \u201ccreativity is, and should remain, human-centered.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo be clear, \u2018Tilly Norwood\u2019 is not an actor, it\u2019s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers \u2014 without permission or compensation,\u201d the guild said. \u201cIt has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we\u2019ve seen, audiences aren\u2019t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Van der Velden, founder of the AI production studio Particle6, last weekend promoted Tilly Norwood at the Zurich Summit, the industry sidebar of the Zurich Film Festival. She said then that talent agencies were circling Norwood and that she expected to soon announce a signing.<\/p>\n Many in Hollywood, though, hope that never happens.<\/p>\n \u201cHope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$,\u201d wrote actor Melissa Barrera (\u201cIn the Heights,\u201d \u201cScream\u201d) on social media. \u201cHow gross, read the room.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAny talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds,\u201d wrote Natasha Lyonne on Instagram. The \u201cRussian Doll\u201d star is directing a feature titled \u201cUncanny Valley\u201d that pledges to use \u201cethical\u201d artificial intelligence in combination with traditional filmmaking techniques. \u201cDeeply misguided & totally disturbed,\u201d she added. \u201cNot the way. Not the vibe. Not the use.\u201d<\/p>\n Artificial intelligence is often used as a tool in film production, though its implementation is hotly debated. It was a major bargaining point in the lengthy strike by SAG-AFTRA<\/a> that concluded in late 2023 with some safeguards put in place to protect the use of actors’ likenesses and performances by AI. A yearlong strike by video game actors hinged on AI protections<\/a>. In July, video game actors approved a new contract<\/a> that mandates employers obtain written permission to create a digital replica.<\/p>\n But there have been numerous controversies over the use of AI in acting. The Oscar-winning 2024 film \u201cThe Brutalist\u201d<\/a> used artificial intelligence for Hungarian dialogue spoken by Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones\u2019 characters, the revelation of which prompted debate in the industry.<\/p>\n Van der Velden responded to the stir around Tilly Norwood on Instagram.<\/p>\n \u201cTo those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work \u2014 a piece of art,\u201d Van der Velden said on Sunday<\/a>. \u201cLike many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n Van der Velden didn’t respond to interview requests Tuesday. In her post, she argued that AI characters should be judged as their own genre.<\/p>\n \u201cCreating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance,\u201d she added. \u201cIt takes time, skill and iteration to bring such a character to life.\u201d<\/p>\n