Los Angeles, 1 October, 2026 (Nosheen): American actor and UN Global Advocate for Human-centric Digital Governance Joseph Gordon-Levitt has said that he does not consider AI-generated “actor” Tilly Norwood to be an actor, describing her as “a piece of software” branded as an actress. In a video shared on Instagram, Gordon-Levitt said artificial intelligence cannot be creative in the same way humans are because AI systems recombine human-created material to produce new outputs. He explained that AI is not a person and argued that a performance requires a human being behind it. Comparing Tilly Norwood with the animated character Donald Duck, he said the character is the product of contributions from writers, artists, animators and voice actors, all of whom are credited, and argued that Tilly Norwood is similarly a product created through the work of humans and technology. Norwood’s creator, Eline Van der Velden, has previously described the AI creation as a work of art rather than an artist, following criticism over her earlier comments that she hoped Tilly would become the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman. More recently, Norwood appeared in an AI-focused audition on CNN, where the team behind the project reportedly spent hours preparing the system to perform a single scene. Norwood has not yet appeared in a released film but is set to lead the upcoming comedy-drama Misaligned, described as a hybrid production involving traditional filmmakers and AI specialists. The growing use of generative AI in Hollywood has also sparked concerns among writers and actors over employment, compensation and creative rights. In 2023, the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA went on strike amid disputes that included the potential impact of AI on creative work and demands for protections against the unauthorised use of creative material to train AI systems.