In the ever changing industry of film, actress Tilly Norwood is the talk of the town in Hollywood right now, but it’s not for the reasons you might think. Unlike many other actresses, it’s not because of a performance in a film or even a major blowup, but it’s because Tilly Norwood is not an actress at all; she’s not even a real person. Created by Eline Van Der Velden, the founder of AI startup Particle6, Norwood is an artificial intelligence tool. The emergence of Norwood has sparked outrage within the industry and resurfaced concerns about whether AI will replace human jobs within the performing arts.

Hollywood’s biggest names, like Emily Blunt and Sophie Turner, have quickly voiced their outrage over the emergence of AI into the world of acting. SAG-AFTRA stated that audiences are not interested in watching “computer-generated content untethered from the human experience”. Van Der Velden shot back and stated that Norwood was not created to replace human creativity and being, but just as another creative art. Tilly Norwood has since starred in “AI Commissioner”, produced by Particle6 and is 100% AI-generated.

The concerns about AI entering the entertainment landscape have been central to the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes that began in 2023. SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP addressed concerns regarding the de-aging or illegal usage of the likenesses of certain actors. A deal was eventually reached, which protected guild members from the “unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI”. However, these agreements cannot stop others from utilizing AI tools. Van der Veldon has revealed that she is now in the process of developing at least forty new digital characters to create an “AI genre of storytelling”.

I asked our PR & growth experts: How do you think the emergence of AI-generated actors, like Tilly Norwood, is reshaping the way audiences perceive authenticity and human connection in film? What new challenges or opportunities do AI-generated actors pose for publicists trying to build or maintain a film’s human connection with audiences? For independent filmmakers with limited budgets, could AI-generated actors or marketing tools help level the playing field—or does it risk further marginalizing human creatives?

Here are the experts' insights:

• AI will likely lead to a resurgence of film camera and grainy, blurry images
• Audiences aren't just watching a character, they're investing in a person's journey
• Audiences crave a human core
• Publicity stops being about "Meet the actor" and starts about building a world
• Connection is the currency films run on
• You lose the messy, brilliant unpredictability that makes audiences care
• Film PR for AI needs to create context such as backstory, dark humor, creative meaning

AI will likely lead to a resurgence of film camera and grainy, blurry images

Emily Reynolds, Owner at R Public Relations

"The emergence of AI in, well, everything, has led to a certain level of distrust from consumers. Anything that looks too polished or airbrushed is jokingly called “AI,” which will likely lead to a resurgence of lo-fi content. Think film camera and grainy, blurry images, a lack of retouching of models, and natural atmospheric sounds. Publicists working with AI actors will have to grapple with a lot of objections and biases already in place, and they may struggle to secure positive coverage. In the future, AI actors and other types of AI very well may be used as a cost-saving tool. But for now, the time, effort, and capital it takes to get AI just right is far to significant for limited budgets."

Audiences aren't just watching a character, they're investing in a person's journey

Ryan Ayers, Senior Content Writer at MSW Degrees

"I've worked in social work education and workforce development for over two decades, and one thing I know for certain: the human relationship is the intervention. In social work, we teach that empathy, lived experience, and genuine presence are what create change—you can't algorithmically generate trust or model vulnerability.

Here's what publicists are missing: audiences aren't just watching a character, they're investing in a person's journey. When Emily Blunt talks about a role, she's drawing from real grief, real joy, real failure. That's why we connect. In clinical training, we see this constantly—clients can tell within minutes if someone is genuinely present or just performing a script. Film audiences will sense the same emptiness, even if the CGI is flawless.

For indie filmmakers, AI feels like a shortcut, but it actually removes your biggest competitive advantage. I've seen countless community programs succeed not because they had the most resources, but because they had authentic stories and real people willing to be vulnerable on camera. Your budget constraints force creativity and rawness that big studios can't buy. Using AI actors is like hiring a translator for a language you already speak fluently—it just adds distance between you and your audience.

The workforce angle matters too. We're already seeing massive burnout in creative fields, and now we're telling emerging actors and writers that their labor can be replicated by software? That's not innovation—that's eroding the pipeline of human talent that makes this industry worth caring about in the first place."

Audiences crave a human core

Spyridon Mesimeris, CMO at LegalDocs

"I’ve been following the rise of AI-generated personalities closely because we work with creators who worry about how quickly synthetic identities are blending into real digital spaces. With someone like Tilly Norwood, the biggest shift isn’t technical, it’s emotional. Audiences crave a human core, and when that core is missing, people don’t quite know how to anchor their feelings. You can admire the craft, but you can’t relate to it in the same way.

When it comes to PR, AI players make things interesting. It's hard to connect with someone but not act like there's a real person behind the role. Real artists can talk about themselves, share stories, and be open. AI personalities can't do it. Publicists now have to sell "authenticity" without a real person to back it up, which is different from how they usually do things. You focus on building the world instead of the person, which is more like marketing a franchise character than an actor.

AI actors can either save or kill independent producers. On the one hand, AI can make production tools available to small teams that used to cost a lot of money. On the other hand, if people think AI casting is "cheating," the reaction could be bigger than the movie itself. There is a chance, but there is also a chance that the creative people who make independent pictures unique will be forgotten."

Publicity stops being about "Meet the actor" and starts about building a world

Alex Vasylenko, Founder at Digital Business Card

"I’ve spent years watching how audiences connect, or fail to connect, with digital identities. With someone like Tilly Norwood, the tension isn’t about tech at all. It’s about whether viewers can invest emotionally in a performance when they know there’s no life behind the eyes. Even great visuals can’t replace the micro-imperfections people subconsciously look for. Those missing edges are what make the whole experience feel slightly hollow.

When it comes to PR, AI players turn the plan on its head. People usually connect with each other through personal stories, press trips, and behind-the-scenes moments. When you hire an AI performer, you're selling a figure that doesn't have a heartbeat. Because of this, publicity needs to be more like building a world than promoting talent. It stops being about "Meet the actor" and starts being about "This is the world this character lives in." That is a totally different set of skills.

And AI can either be a huge help for independent directors or a PR nightmare. Technology can save money on production and make it easier to be creative, but people can tell when it's being used as a crutch instead of to tell a story. If AI actors stop being a supplement and start replacing human expression, smaller artists might lose the one thing they have that no one else does: their human point of view."

Connection is the currency films run on

Raphael Yu, CMO at LeadsNavi

"With AI actors like Tilly Norwood, what I see shifting fastest is the basic expectation of authenticity. When viewers know a performer has no lived experience behind the role, it changes how they interpret every emotion on screen. You can appreciate the artistry, but it’s harder to feel the connection, and connection is the currency films run on.

The task is twice as big for publicists. Usually, you make a story around the person performing, their craft, their story, and how open they are. With an AI actress, you're advertising a person who can't go on a talk show or say anything real. That means PR teams need to switch from efforts that focus on people to ones that focus on the world. It's kind of like promoting a video game character instead of an actor. You can do it, but it's a different muscle.

For small independent films, AI players can be both a help and a hindrance. They can lower the cost of making things and give small teams access to visual options they didn't have before. But if you use them too much, it could look like the movie doesn't have any soul, or even worse, like you're replacing real people who wrote the script instead of working with them. There is a chance, but it will only work if directors use AI as a tool and not as a quick fix."

You lose the messy, brilliant unpredictability that makes audiences care

Deepak Shukla, Founder & CEO at Pearl Lemon PR

"As someone who’s built PR campaigns for human talent, the arrival of AI actors is weirdly exciting. With human actors, you manage egos, schedules, scandals, tantrums, jet lag… with an AI actor, none of that. But the downside is massive: you lose the messy, brilliant unpredictability that makes audiences care. Publicists now have to market ‘connection’ without the raw human backstory, like the childhood struggle, the audition failures, the heartbreaks. You can't feed an algorithm a tragic childhood and expect audiences to cry on cue. That gap is where we now have to work harder, and honestly, more inventively."

Film PR for AI needs to create context such as backstory, dark humor, creative meaning

Joel Lim, Finance Expert at Becoin.Net

"Audience trust is increasingly leaning emotionally towards tangible beings for cyberspace representations like Tilly Norwood to express enough felt presence.

In my opinion, viewers' connection to real-life nuances is what dictates their acceptance of an artificial character.

Publicists are now faced with the issue of constructing valid references for established identity.

I see a situation where teams need to layer in all kinds of context such as backstory, dark humor if it's there, creative meaning, and anything grounding things emotionally.

Moreover, there is now a chance to handle these narratives through controlled storytelling, since AI actors cannot have scandals or unpredictable public reactions.

Resourceful added creativity shows cost-wise adjusting capitals to their advantage wherein the AI-moderated factors of casting and scheduling do not appear.

These can regard the sense as cutting out creative possibilities as the more junior artists get inserted into roles that could well be covered by synthetic performers.

My own inclination includes the protection of human demonstration from providing AI as some ancillary art that will locate a space to foster low-budget experiments while not quite replacing the new talent."

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