It’s fall and there are still film festivals aplenty coming our way, including the Zurich Film Festival which began last Thursday. Within the festival is an event called the Zurich Summit, a series of panels the organizers are loftily billing as “the Davos of the film industry.” One such panel is making headlines, “Beyond Imagination: Creativity in the Age of AI.” The discussion was between two speakers, Eline Van der Velden (she runs AI studios Particle6 and Xicoia) and Verena Puhm (head of Studio Dream Lab LA, a new division of Luma AI). As their company names suggest, both are deeply pro-AI. Without naming any names, both intimated that Hollywood studios are already using AI, whether they’re acknowledging it yet or not (but they’ll probably be announcing it within a year). To me that news isn’t all that surprising, yet still profoundly disappointing. What’s worse is the bit that’s been garnering global outrage. Van der Velden says Xicoia studio will soon reveal the agency that signed to represent Tilly Norwood — an “actress” Xicoia created using AI. Is it too late to get raptured?
“We were in a lot of boardrooms around February time, and everyone was like, ‘No, this is nothing. It’s not going to happen’. Then, by May, people were like, ‘We need to do something with you guys.’ When we first launched Tilly, people were like, ‘What’s that?’, and now we’re going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months,” said Van der Velden.
The revelation of a possible agent signing for Tilly Norwood comes just days after Van der Velden officially announced the creation of Particle6 offshoot Xicoia, an AI talent studio designed to create, manage and monetize a new generation of hyperreal digital stars.
If the talent agency signing comes to pass, Norwood will be one of the first AI generated actresses to get representation with a talent agency, traditionally working with real-life stars.
Former AI artist Puhm, whose appointment as head of startup Luma AI’s new Studio Dream Lab LA was announced in July, concurred with Van der Velden on the mood changing at the studios.
“I remember having meetings with the studios as an AI artist before joining Luma. Some said, ‘Oh, no, we’re not using AI.’ I knew some were lying, they were already secretly working on some stuff, but some were not open to it at all. Then definitely this year, kind of like March, April, people called me and wanted to talk to me,” she said.
…“Historically, the studios have been very slow to adapt, at least publicly, they need that influx of new creatives, and new creative technologists to come in and actually show them how it’s done. You can assume that a lot of them are already working on it.”
Puhm said all the big companies and studios were working on AI assisted projects but being under NDA, she was not in a position to announce any of the details.
“We really want to make them feel comfortable through their testing, through their projects, and working on real projects… we want it to be their decision on when they want to say it out loud, but honestly, I think this year is going to be interesting. In the beginning of next year, there’s going to be a lot of announcements.”
Tilly Norwood has an Instagram, I sh-t you not, where “she” has the nerve to ask followers which stills are their favorite from a carousel of her “latest work as an AI actress.” Thankfully — and I rarely say this about social media — the comments are restoring my faith in humanity. Tilly got feedback like, “Stills from your latest nothing, babe. you’re AI” and “Who’s face or voice did this steal?” The most recent post is a word salad signed by Van der Velden, the typical rant of “this isn’t replacing human work!” and “it’s just another tool!” Sure, Van der Jan.
An AI-generated “actress” advancing in the industry can’t help but remind me of Kim Novak’s commentary that AI is like “today’s bad directors, trying to remake women.” Once we were getting AI models, AI actors were just a matter of time. So you know what? I hope an agency does publicly announce they’re signing Tilly, as I hope studios also start revealing what they’re doing with AI and on what projects. Cause then we the consumers will know exactly who/what to boycott, just like last week with Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension. Sure, it’d be nice if the head of a film/television production studio realized that they’re in the business of storytelling which is a HUMAN art. And I still invite studio heads to think this way, instead of only thinking about money. But since that’s unlikely to happen, let’s be ready to fight back with our wallets. I guess what I’m trying to say to studios flirting with AI, is, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.
Someone please call Cher because I would like to turn back time. There are sooo many things happening now that desperately need that 20/20 hindsight.
If she were a real actress, she wouldn’t be getting any jobs because she doesn’t have enough IG followers.
This article seems relevant. https://gizmodo.com/lionsgate-is-founding-out-its-really-hard-to-make-movies-with-ai-2000663222
I don’t know why tech companies are so invested in eliminating human beings. Being human cannot be automated.
Another AI “influencer” is miazelu. The followers are MORONS, “you are incredibly beautiful,” “were getting married you just don’t know it yet,” etc.
Genuinely asking, how is a “computer generated actress” any different than just animation?
Animators get paid.
In terms of delivery/product not much, but as far as the actual industry goes it still steals job opportunities. Cartoons/cgi need full creative teams and writers, plus actors and audio production teams. Then there’s the actual marketing and press tour: can’t make an ai walk a red carpet or wear a designer dress.
Animation requires human artistry.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again : The only people making money from AI is the companies selling it. No hollywood production company is going to see any returns on a product like this. Pretty sure the future of AI actors will be in “adult” movies only. Same with the interactive viewing hype.
Ever notice how all the AI personas are all young hot 20 year olds?
No one is ever interested in animating a Willam Defoe type.
It’s almost like AIs case usage is extremely limited or something…
Ugh!
I hate this. Seeing AI images makes me feel the way I’d feel if I accidentally stumbled onto one of those weird junk content sites with gobbledygook text. There’s an ick factor that kind of stays with me.
Wish there was I way I could block ad content that contains AI faces … I don’t want to be served that stolen, corrupted shit fine tuned by manipulative bigots and misogynists.
Also, that’s not an image of iced coffee in that AI image – it’s just milky coffee colored stuff – there is zero ice. Just like it’s not an “actress” or a “person”.
I noticed she doesn’t look or sound exactly the same in every clip… and she barely “talks”. But she does have 10k+ followers.
Like some commenters pointed out, it is always young women these AI companies are trying to sell. I read from some producer saying that they can make AI actresses do anything which is a plus for them. So, you can see why men in the industry are very excited about this. They get a little pushback about the abuses the young actresses have to endure at the start of their career, so they try to replace them with AI actresses created by other men. In times like this, the parasocial relationships will be the reason why this won’t be successful. People won’t be obsessing over / supporting a person who doesn’t exist in real life. The jobs to be lost will be those of background actors unfortunately.
Mikey Madison needs to get lawyers on the phone, pronto.
I mean she looks uncanny valley fake. Her very low cut jacket with no shirt underneath? For a supposedly cold day? No shadow/cleavage at all, just flat looking plastic? And a purse strap that goes right across where her missing breast should be? It’s weird and unsettling.