By: Khushi Palan
A recent introduction in Hollywood has caused widespread backlash and discussion.[1] Tilly Norwood is an AI-generated actress produced by Xicoia, an AI talent studio under parent company Particle6, that is dedicated to developing and monetizing a new generation of digital stars.[2] Xicoia is developing a larger “portfolio of emotionally intelligent AI personas . . . with . . . backstories, distinct voices, evolving narrative arcs and fully realized personalities.”[3] Tilly featured in a short film called “AI Commissioner” in July, which was officially launched at the Zurich Film Festival in late September, and is already in demand among talent agents and studios alike.[4]
The emergence of Tilly Norwood proves particularly provocative given the hard-fought negotiations in 2023 by the labor union representing the Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (“SAG-AFTRA”) over AI protections.[5] The 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes specifically addressed AI usage in the industry, resulting in contractual provisions that require informed consent and compensation when AI replicates a performer’s likeness.[6] However, these agreements primarily protect human actors from being replaced by their own AI duplicates; they do not clearly address wholly synthetic AI performers with no human counterpart.[7] When companies want to use synthetic performers, they must notify SAG-AFTRA and provide the union with an “opportunity to bargain,” with no other contractual provisions listed or clarified.[8]
This creates a classification dilemma: if an AI actress has no human original, do labor protections apply at all? The answer likely depends on how courts interpret the National Labor Relations Act’s (“NLRA”) protections in the context of synthetic performers.
While the NLRA defines “employee” broadly to include workers affected by labor disputes, it presupposes human workers in an employment relationship.[9] Studios deploying Tilly Norwood may argue that she is merely a sophisticated tool, no different from computer-generated imagery (“CGI”), and thus her use cannot violate labor protections designed for human workers.[10] Beyond legal technicalities, AI performers offer studios a compelling economic proposition: they require no union protections, demand no health insurance or residuals, never strike, and can work indefinitely without labor law constraints.[11] As AI technology becomes more sophisticated and costs decline, this financial incentive could fundamentally reshape casting decisions.[12] SAG-AFTRA faces an existential threat: if studios can systematically replace union actors with AI performers to avoid collective bargaining obligations entirely, they effectively eliminate the bargaining unit itself.[13] This could implicate the NLRA’s unfair labor practice, which prohibits discrimination that discourages union membership.[14] The critical question is whether deploying AI performers constitutes unlawful discrimination against union labor or simply represents cost-effective technological advancement. The National Labor Relations Board has scrutinized employer automation decisions made in retaliation for union activity, but the fact that Tilly Norwood was proactively created before any specific labor dispute complicates the analysis.[15]
Tilly Norwood represents more than a technological novelty; she embodies a fundamental challenge to the structure of labor protections in the entertainment industry.[16] As AI performers become increasingly sophisticated and economically viable, the legal system must confront whether decades-old labor law can adapt to protect human workers from synthetic competition or whether studios have found a legal loophole that places AI actors beyond regulatory reach.[17] The resolution of this question will determine not only the future of Hollywood employment but also set a precedent for AI’s role in displacing human labor across industries.[18] Without clear precedent addressing entirely synthetic workers, courts must decide whether labor law’s protective framework extends to protecting AI performers or whether such performers exist in an unregulated space beyond the NLRA’s reach.
[1] Regan Morris, Emily Blunt Among Hollywood Stars Outraged Over ‘AI Actor’ Tilly Norwood, BBC (Sep. 30, 2025), https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c99glvn5870o [https://perma.cc/X37Q-YHM4].
[2] Diana Lodderhose, Eline Van Der Velden, Founder of AI Indie Particle6, Launches AI Talent Studio Xicoia for “Hyperreal Digital Stars”, Deadline (Sep. 25, 2025, at 04:00 ET), https://deadline.com/2025/09/eline-van-der-velden-particle6-ai-talent-studio-xicoia-1236555680/ [https://perma.cc/4LGL-RGFV] (“Xicoia, an AI talent studio designed to create, manage, and monetize a new generation of hyperreal digital stars.”)
[3] Id.
[4] See Amy Hume, Would You Watch a Film with an AI Actor? What Tilly Norwood Tells Us About Art – and Labour Rights, The Conversation (Oct. 7, 2025, at 15:04 ET), https://theconversation.com/would-you-watch-a-film-with-an-ai-actor-what-tilly-norwood-tells-us-about-art-and-labour-rights-266476 [https://perma.cc/P7D2-845X]; Melanie Goodfellow, Talent Agents Circle AI Actress Tilly Norwood As Studios Quietly Embrace AI Technology – Zurich Summit, Deadline (Sep. 27, 2025 at 06:14 ET), https://deadline.com/2025/09/talent-agent-ai-actress-tilly-norwood-studios-1236557889/ [https://perma.cc/8KQK-QBD3] (stating that studio owner Eline Van der Velden claims that they will announce which talent agency will be representing Tilly, making Tilly one of the first AI generated actresses to get representation with a talent agency, traditionally working with real-life stars).
[5] About, SAG-AFTRA, https://www.sagaftra.org/about (on file with the American University Business Law Review); see Kalia Richardson, One Year After The Actor’s Strike, AI Remains A Persistent Threat, Rolling Stone (July 14, 2025), https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/actors-strike-sag-aftra-ai-one-year-later-1235059882/ (on file with the American University Business Law Review) (explaining the threat of AI consistently existing post SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations).
[6] Summary of 2023 Tentative Successor Agreement to the 2020 Producer-SAG-AFTRA Codified Basic Agreement (‘Codified Basic Agreement’) and 2020 SAG-AFTRA Television Agreement (‘Television Agreement’) (hereafter, collectively ‘the Agreements’), SAG-AFTRA (Nov. 16, 2023) https://www.sagaftra.org/sites/default/files/sa_documents/TV-Theatrical_23_Summary_Agreement_Final.pdf [https://perma.cc/US8W-3PJ9].
[7] See id. at 2–5.
[8] Contract Bulletin – Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) Synthetic Performer vs Digital Replica, SAG-AFTRA (Apr. 2024), https://www.sagaftra.org/sites/default/files/sa_documents/Contract%20Bulletin%20-%20A.I.%20Synthetic%20Performer%20vs%20Digital%20Replicas.pdf [https://perma.cc/E5V3-JDSX]; see also So Why Are Talent Agents Circling an AI ‘Actress’? Follow the Money., Under Headlines, https://underheadlines.com/film/so-why-are-talent-agents-circling-an-ai-actress-follow-the-money/ [https://perma.cc/8N9T-DAMJ].
[9] See 29 U.S.C. § 152 (“The term “employee” shall include any employee, and shall not be limited to the employees of a particular employer . . . [and] any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice . . . .”) (emphasis added).
[10] Contrast Katie Kilkenny, Writer’s Strike: Studios Break Silence on AI, TV Staff Sizes, How Talks Broke Down, Hollywood Rep. (May 4, 2023, at 12:14 ET), https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/writers-strike-amptp-negotiations-issues-ai-1235479953/ [https://perma.cc/M62B-3A56] (discussing how they view AI as a tool that writers use and wanted to regulate that), with SAG-AFTRA Agreement Establishes Important Safeguards for Actors Around AI Use, Author’s Guild (Jan. 17, 2024), http://authorsguild.org/news/sag-aftra-agreement-establishes-important-ai-safeguards/ [https://perma.cc/G4QN-DNZ4] (emphasizing that writers view AI as a threat to their livelihoods, capable of completely replacing them).
[11] See Under Headlines, supra note 8 (“The incentive structure is obvious: infinite reuse without ongoing residual obligations, scheduling conflicts, or union minimums. While SAG-AFTRA’s contract ensures a digital replica of Emily Blunt must be compensated like Emily Blunt, a synthetic performer like Tilly faces no such requirement. The negotiation becomes a straightforward IP licensing deal, not a labor agreement.”)
[12] See id.
[13] See, e.g., Sarah Parvini, SAG-AFTRA files unfair labor practice charge over use of AI to make Darth Vader’s voice in Fortnite, Associated Press (May 19, 2025, at 15:57 ET), https://apnews.com/article/sagaftra-fortnite-darth-vader-ai-627d9adac6d4007b3bc489e511c1beb8 [https://perma.cc/D9XS-BK2S] (reporting SAG-AFTRA’s claim that Llama Productions “failed and refused to bargain in good faith with the union”).
[14] See 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3) (“It shall be unfair labor practice for an employer – (3) by discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization . . . .”)
[15] See Grace Scott, Labor Organizing and AI Surveillance in the Workplace, Geo J. on Poverty L. & Pol’y (Jan. 14, 2024), https://www.law.georgetown.edu/poverty-journal/blog/labor-organizing-and-ai-surveillance-in-the-workplace/ [https://perma.cc/6Z6Z-LHZQ].
[16] See SAG-AFTRA Statement on Synthetic Performer, SAG-AFTRA (Sep. 20, 2025), https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-statement-synthetic-performer (on file with the American University Business Law Review) (emphasizing SAG-AFTRA’s opposition to the use of Synthetic Actors).
[17] See Angela Luna & Danielle Draper, Hollywood Strikes Back Against Generative AI Disruption, Bipartisan Pol’y Ctr. (Dec. 6, 2023), https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/hollywood-strikes-back-against-generative-ai-disruption/ (on file with the American University Business Law Review) (demonstrating the vast use of AI in entertainment, with a prediction of the automation of 26% of activities within the areas of art, design, and entertainment.)
[18] See Atahualpa Blanchet, Hollywood’s Stand Against AI: A Blueprint for Collective Bargaining in the Digital Age, Equal Times (Feb. 6, 2025), https://www.equaltimes.org/hollywood-s-stand-against-ai-a [https://perma.cc/N75K-6NM3].
