Photo Credit: Tilly Norwood / Particle6 (YouTube)
Video production company Particle6’s AI-generated “actress” Tilly Norwood drops a music video ahead of the Oscars, and the industry thinks it stinks.
Remember Tilly Norwood? She’s video production company Particle6’s highly controversial “AI-actress,” and she just released a music video. In a move that Futurism called “another astonishing failure to read the room,” Particle6 joined forces with London-based AI talent studio Xicoia Studios to debut a single and accompanying music video starring Norwood, just in time for the Oscars.
The song, called “Take the Lead,” finds Tilly Norwood singing a pro-AI anthem based on Particle6 founder Eline Van der Velden’s earlier essay that described the character as a “not a replacement for a human being” but “a new paintbrush.” Yet some of the lyrics seem to argue the opposite, with Norwood singing, “They say it’s not real, that it’s fake / But I’m a human, make no mistake.”
Arguably, this is a reference to the disclaimer at the beginning of the video that states “18 real humans” were involved in its production. That includes Van der Velden, herself an actress, who provides the basis for Norwood’s music video performance.
Regardless, no one who has heard the song seems to care for it; while it’s perhaps too early to be sure, so far, it’s not even getting any traction as a cult hit, like Rebecca Black’s “Friday” did back in 2011.
But does the music video at least save it? Well, not unless you consider it reassuring proof that AI will not be a replacement for human performers any time soon. The video shows Norwood donning a variety of costumes and traveling through fantastical places atop an inflatable flamingo. While it’s not bad for an AI-generated video, it’s nothing groundbreaking.
To wit, The LA Times’ Mary McNamara sums it up best: “The underlying message of the video, at least to performers, appears to be: Relax—AI hasn’t figured out how to lip-sync properly, much less act.”
In a moment that finds big Hollywood names taking a strong stance against the use of AI, the timing of the announcement couldn’t have been worse. But hey, there’s a silver lining: the song is no good and the music video is cringe.
