The creator of controversial AI actress Tilly Norwood has outlined how her team went about giving Norwood the “‘girl next door’ authenticity” that has brought the world to her attention.
Eline Van der Velden said there were “2000 iterations” of what Norwood could have been but ultimately they were always plumping for authenticity and to “provoke a reaction.”
“There were so many versions of her where she was too beautiful or didn’t have that ‘girl next door’ authenticity and ultimately that is what has made Tilly Norwood go around the world,” Van der Velden said at Content London today.
She added that she “thought about making her half robot but I chose not to go in that direction because I felt as an artist you want to always provoke a reaction in the audience.”
That reaction has certainly been “provoked,” with Hollywood infuriated by an artificial intelligence-created actor at a time when use of the tech in the industry is controversial. Van der Velden recently sat down with us exclusively to explain why Norwood will never take real actors’ jobs, during which she said it was “never the intention to upset the acting community.”
She reiterated today that Norwood will “not take real actors’ jobs” and denied Norwood will be a negative role model to teens because “girls know she can never be real, which is better than real people who have all sorts of filters.”
Even amid the heavy backlash, Van der Velden remains confident that Norwood came along at the right time.
“Tilly is a showcase of what we can do and where the technology is at,” she added. “She represents a time when the industry needed to look at itself and this technology, and she shows that.”
