Major Guilds Condemn Use of Synthetic Performers, Fear Job Displacement

Los Angeles, USA, September 30, 2025

The Hollywood creative community has been rocked by an escalating controversy surrounding Tilly Norwood, an entirely synthetic performer billed as the industry’s first “AI actress.” The emergence of the computer-generated character, and the news that major talent agencies are reportedly interested in signing her, has prompted a furious and unified response from the industry’s largest guilds, who have issued strong condemnations fearing wide-scale job displacement and the erosion of human creativity.

The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) led the charge, forcefully asserting that Tilly Norwood is “not an actor” but rather “a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers—without permission or compensation.” This incident directly violates the core protections actors fought for during the historic 2023 strikes, re-igniting the debate over AI’s place in filmmaking.

Headline Points

 * Actors’ Unions Join Condemnation: SAG-AFTRA issued a sharp statement, insisting that AI characters like Tilly Norwood pose a threat by using “stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.”

 * Ethical Debate on Creative Rights: The controversy pits the concept of technological “art” against the fundamental rights of human performers, raising urgent questions about consent, compensation, and the use of actors’ likenesses without permission.

 * Future of AI in Filmmaking: The outcry is putting pressure on talent agencies and production studios, forcing a new industry-wide reckoning on whether AI should augment or replace human artists.

Guilds Denounce AI as Replacement

The initial backlash against Tilly Norwood, a creation of AI talent studio Xicoia, was swift. Prominent human actors, including Oscar-nominated stars, publicly expressed their horror, calling the development “really, really scary.” The unified stance from the guilds highlights the deep-seated concern that synthetic performers represent an existential threat to the acting profession.

SAG-AFTRA further reminded producers of the contractual safeguards won in recent collective bargaining agreements, which mandate explicit consent, notification, and negotiation for the use of AI replicas of performers. The union’s position is that the use of a fully synthetic character trained on countless human performances is an end-run around these hard-won protections. “The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics,” the statement read, emphasizing that “creativity is, and should remain, human-centered.”

The Ethical and Legal Minefield

The Tilly Norwood saga immediately thrusts the ethical debate over AI directly into the spotlight. At the heart of the issue is whether a computer program, no matter how sophisticated, can truly be an “actor” with genuine creative rights, or if it is merely a tool that fundamentally relies on the uncompensated labour and likenesses of real human artists.

Industry observers note that the controversy underscores the critical need for legislative action, such as the proposed “NO FAKES Act,” which aims to establish a federal right of publicity to protect individuals from having their voices and visual likenesses replicated by AI without authorization. While Tilly Norwood’s creator has defended the character as a “creative work—a piece of art,” the guilds argue the synthetic nature entirely lacks the “life experience to draw from” and emotion inherent to human performance.

Industry at a Crossroads

The decision by talent agencies to potentially represent an AI performer marks a severe turning point, forcing Hollywood to confront the economic reality of an AI-driven future. The concern isn’t just about high-profile leads, but the entire ecosystem of performers, from background artists to supporting cast, whose jobs could be swiftly filled by cost-effective synthetic alternatives.

Should agencies proceed with signing AI talent, it is expected to trigger a fresh wave of labour disputes and potentially boycotts, as actors and their representatives will undoubtedly apply maximum pressure to prevent the normalization of AI replacements. The industry’s choice now is whether to integrate AI as a collaborative tool for human artists, or allow it to become a direct competitor that devalues and ultimately displaces the very foundation of the cinematic art form.