What a Hollywood AI actor can teach CEOs about the future of work
The rise of Tilly Norwood, a fully AI-generated actor, is provoking a union backlash and offering business leaders a glimpse of how technological disruption may unfold.
Tilly Norwood, a fully AI-created actor, has become the centre of a heated debate in Hollywood after her creator revealed that talent agents were interested in representing her.
The actors’ union responded swiftly, warning that Tilly was trained on the work of countless performers without their consent or compensation. It also reminded producers that hiring her would involve dealing with the union.
The episode highlights two key lessons for business leaders in any industry. First, never assume a technology’s current limitations will remain its inherent limitations. Some commentators, including Whoopi Goldberg, have argued that AI actors pose little threat because their physical movements still appear noticeably artificial.
Yet history shows that early limitations often disappear over time. Once-dismissed technologies like machine translation and chess software have since far surpassed human abilities. Similarly,