You might remember Tilly Norwood, a completely AI-generated “actress” character that was unveiled last summer to significant industry backlash.
Well, get ready for more. Xicoia, an AI talent studio founded by the British production company behind Tilly, just announced that it’s preparing to unveil a whole “Tillyverse” later this year.
The plan is to build an entire digital universe to house Tilly Norwood’s “compelling narrative arc,” which will include everything from “her humour, daily life and career choices to how she interacts with fans across various platforms,” CEO Eline Van der Velden said in a press release. The company is also working on unveiling a bunch of new AI characters to accompany her.
Xicoia is bringing in Mark Whelan from Amazon Prime Video to lead the charge, calling it the company’s first major hire. At Prime, Whelan led social strategy for some European shows like Clarkson’s Farm and The Grand Tour, according to Deadline. At Xicoia, Whelan will also oversee “the creation of bespoke AI talent commissioned by third parties,” the company said, “positioning Xicoia at the forefront of the rapidly emerging AI entertainment economy.”
“A few short months after Tilly was revealed to the world, this appointment now signals a period of rapid acceleration. Xicoia isn’t just experimenting with AI talent — it’s building IP at scale and redefining how talent is created, developed and experienced in the AI era,” the company said in the press release.
Tilly drew ire from all corners of the industry when “she” debuted last summer and creator Eline Van der Velden said she was talking to talent agencies that wanted to sign Tilly. So far, the AI character is still not signed to any talent agency, but Van der Velden told Deadline in November that “there are lots of agencies that are interested.”
The actors union SAG-AFTRA released a statement at the time saying that Tilly Norwood was just “a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers—without permission or compensation.”
Early last month, the union began renegotiating its contract, and as of Monday, at least, are still deep in negotiations, according to union president Sean Astin. The current contract is set to expire by June 30, and it was signed following the historic Hollywood strikes of 2023. One of the key issues of disagreement that led to the 2023 strike was the use of AI in film. According to reports, AI is yet again a major topic of discussion this time around.
The AI industry has made huge leaps in video and image generation since 2023, from viral product launches by Google’s Nano Banana Pro, ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0, and OpenAI’s Sora to a completely AI-generated short movie that almost got a national theatrical run by AMC this month, until the chain backed away following criticism.
It will be interesting to see whether the AI developments and the expansion of the “Tillyverse” will factor into the union contract renegotiations, not just for SAG-AFTRA but across Hollywood, as both the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild also gear up to renegotiate contracts in the next couple of months.
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