Milly's Share: Tilly Norwood, the first AI generated actress

From Milly: I recently came across a New York Times article about an AI-generated actress named Tilly Norwood and sent it to my dad, who is a screenwriter and producer, to see what he thought. I expected resistance. Instead, his response surprised me.

Like many people working in creative industries, part of him wants to reject what AI is making possible. But another part wonders whether that battle has already been lost. Rather than asking how to stop it, he found himself imagining what filmmaking might look like if AI could generate actors, sets, locations and performances at a fraction of today's cost.

What struck me most was a question he raised: could there one day be two distinct categories of film and television? Works made by humans and works generated by AI?

Here is part of what he wrote:

"A part of me wants to reject and fight it ... but increasingly most of me is thinking it's too late for that. I can see a world where there are shows and movies 'made by humans' and shows and movies 'AI generated'. In a way, is it just the ultimate form of animation?"

I don't think this question is really about AI. It's about how we respond when technology begins to reshape something we care deeply about. I'd love to hear what others think.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/31/magazine/ai-actress-tilly-norwood.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share