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Late last year, video production company Particle6 triggered near-universal backlash when it unveiled its so-called “AI actress” dubbed “Tilly Norwood.”
The timing of the announcement couldn’t have been worse, as some of the biggest names in Hollywood had been publicly and strongly denouncing the use of AI in filmmaking. The innocent-faced avatar, which The Verge previously lambasted as a “gen AI psyop,” perfectly played into the fears of those worried about being replaced by the tech, particularly among voice actors and on-screen performers.
Now, in yet another astonishing failure to read the room, Particle6 teamed up with London-based AI talent studio Xicoia Studios for a debut single and accompanying video for Norwood, per The Hollywood Reporter. You might wonder if the music video redeemed the project; instead, it’s one of the dingiest and depressing things we’ve ever seen.
Tilly Norwood | Take The Lead (Official Music Video)
The single, titled “Take the Lead,” was — we’re not making this up — inspired by an essay Particle6 and Xicoia Studios CEO Eline van der Velden wrote about the extensive backlash to AI.
The video itself is an amalgamation of uninspired and cringe-inducing AI slop. It shows the Norwood persona singing passionately alongside flamingos and touching on almost every “rise to fame” cliché in the book as the starlet transforms into the thinly-veiled embodiment of AI that wins over every heart and is celebrated by all.
In other words, it’s a fever dream of an executive who’s far too deep down the rabbit hole, where she’s desperately trying to convince the public of the tech’s merits.
“When they talk about me, they don’t see,” the avatar sings in a highly processed and uncanny-sounding voice, in lyrics that sound suspiciously like they were also generated by AI. “The human spark, the creativity.”
“Behind the code, behind the light, I’m just a tool, but I’ve got life,” the avatar adds. “I’m not a puppet, I’m the star.”
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