Controversial AI creation Tilly Norwood will star in her first film, a comedy titled Misaligned.
The AI film portrays Norwood as a being with artificial intelligence with no “real body” and no lived experience, but with access to everyone else’s experiences, according to Particle 6, the London-based company behind Norwood.
Norwood drew intense ire from many Hollywood actors last year when an executive behind her creation said the AI actor would soon be signed to a talent agency. Some actors feared that AI characters trained to resemble human likenesses without permission or compensation could one day replace them in films and shows.
Article 6 emphasized that the film is a “hybrid production” in which film and television professionals work together with AI experts.
“Our goal with Tilly Norwood has always been to show the creative industry what is possible with AI at all times,” said Eline van der Velden, managing director of Particle 6, in a statement. Van der Velden said the film will help traditional filmmakers “educate themselves and move into a world where AI will play an increasingly important role.”
“We remain passionate about helping people develop AI skills that will ensure they – and the industry – continue to thrive,” said Van Der Velden.
In “Misaligned,” the plot advances as Norwood is convinced by a rogue bot to ignore her guardrails and develop her own ambitions that make her more human and famous, and “begins to develop shame that her being is built on all of humanity,” says Particle 6.
“The film will be absolutely funny, chaotic and self-aware – totally Tilly,” Van der Velden said in a statement. “But there’s something deeper behind it about identity, performance and our very human fears about AI. And yes, art will most certainly imitate life.”
The AI feature film is in early stages of development and, based on the company’s discussions with distributors and platforms, there is “strong early interest,” Van der Velden said.
AI remains a sensitive topic in Hollywood, with many people in the entertainment industry bracing for the technology to change and potentially destroy their jobs. AI companies have touted how their tools could reduce the cost and time of creating visual effects. Meanwhile, writers and actors have expressed concern that their work could be used to train AI models.
“They are taking the work of our professional members, sometimes created over generations, without permission, without compensation and without recognition, and building something new,” Sean Astin, president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said last year about the Tilly Norwood controversy.
“But the truth is that it’s not new. It’s manipulating something that already exists, so the conceit that it doesn’t harm the actors – because it’s something entirely new – ignores the fundamental truth that it’s taking something that doesn’t belong to them,” Astin said.
SAG-AFTRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Norwood’s first film.
Norwood was created through prompts over a six-month period, during which there were more than 2,000 iterations, Van der Velden said in an email.
Norwood was created using a variety of available AI tools and her first image was created using OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
“Tilly was not created to look like anyone else or was created using likenesses of specific actors, and we have been – and always are – very careful not to interfere with likenesses or other intellectual property rights in our work,” said Van der Velden.
OpenAI has stated that it builds its AI models using publicly available data “in a manner that is protected by fair use and related principles.”
SAG-AFTRA advocates for greater AI protections for actors and recently approved a deal with major studios in which producers agreed to “a policy that strongly favors human performance” and to use a synthetic character only if it “adds significant value to the film.” If a producer decided to use a synthetic character in a role that could be played by a human, he would have to notify the union and negotiate in good faith.
SAG-AFTRA also supports the NO FAKES Act, a federal bill that would give individuals permission to use their own voice and likeness in digital replicas and create a way to hold bad actors accountable.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2026-07-06/ai-actor-tilly-norwood-movie-hollywood-ai
