Emily Blunt Among Hollywood Stars Speaking Out Against AI-Generated Actress Tilly Norwood

The computer-generated actress was created by Eline Van der Velden, founder of the AI production studio Particle6.

Actress Emily Blunt attends the 2016 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Graydon Carter at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2016. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Emily Blunt and a slew of other Hollywood stars have voiced concerns about the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated actress Tilly Norwood following the computer-made starlet’s debut at the Zurich Film Festival this past weekend.

“Does it disappoint me? I don’t know how to quite answer it, other than to say how terrifying this is,” Blunt told Variety on Monday. “Good Lord, we’re screwed. That is really, really scary.”

Norwood’s creator, Eline Van der Velden, the founder of the AI production studio Particle6, unveiled the AI-generated character earlier this year, giving her a starring role in the short comedy sketch “AI Commissioner.”

“Can’t believe it ... my first ever role is live!” reads a July 30 post on Norwood’s Instagram account, which has more than 35,000 followers. “I may be AI, but I’m feeling very real emotions right now. I am so excited for what’s coming next!”

While speaking on a panel at the Zurich Summit—the film festival’s industry conference—Van der Velden said she is looking to sign the synthetic British character with a talent agency.

“When we first launched Tilly, people were like, ‘What’s that?’” Van der Velden said. “Now we’re going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months.”

In response, Blunt urged talent agents not to work with the character.

“Come on, agencies, don’t do that,” the Oscar-nominated actress told Variety. “Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection.”

“General Hospital” actor Chris McKenna conveyed a similar sentiment online, calling for the cancellation of artificial intelligence altogether.

“In case you’re thinking she’ll only replace actors, lemme explain,” McKenna posted. “#TillyNorwood needs no hairstylist, makeup, wardrobe, lighting, direction, transportation, rest, or lunch ... the trickledown will be devastating.”

“Any talent agency that engages in this should be boycotted by all guilds,” wrote actress Natasha Lyonne. “Deeply misguided and totally disturbed. Not the way. Not the vibe. Not the use.”

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) issued a statement on Tuesday assuring industry professionals that it was “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,” the labor union said.

“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. It doesn’t solve any ‘problem’ – it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artists.”

In the wake of all the backlash, Van der Velden said Norwood was “a piece of art” meant to spark conversation and creativity in the world.

“I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool – a paintbrush. Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories,” the Dutch writer wrote.

“I’m an actor myself, and nothing – certainly not an AI character – can take away the craft or joy of human performance.”