Robert Hamer
Our major news outlets are compromised, incompetently managed by disingenuous ideologues, and ill-suited to the task of properly informing the public in this modern era. Shocking hot take, I know, but I don’t think we’re as vigilant or as harsh as we should be on them when they display particularly outrageous examples of journalistic turpitude. Take, for example, “Tilly Norwood,” the supposed AI-generated “actress” who we have been promised will land roles in major movies and put human performers out of business for over a year, now. This, despite the fact that there has never been any proven ability for this “actress” to actually sustain a consistent performance in a feature-length film project, nor has there been any apparent interest from the public in learning about or seeing “her” at all. Ever.
And yet:
Oh yeah, you didn’t think I’d let you all forget about that accursed op-ed, did you? Sure, The Free Press is a hack blog run by hacks, but it’s not like they’re alone in their submissive coverage of this gimmick that the rest of us are repulsed by. The Los Angeles Times, Marie Claire, The Hollywood Reporter, CBS News, and Forbes have all published blatant advertorials on this stupid AI-generated “actress” without even the faintest hint of skepticism. Yes, even the ones painting “her” in a seemingly negative light, because they’re still perpetuating the myth that this algorithmically-generated Uncanny Valley approximation of a person is somehow “dangerous” and “disruptive” to the entertainment industry, which just feeds into the myth of AI.
And then there’s CNN:
I think the funniest part of this utterly embarrassing video is how Elizabeth Wagmeister admits this is all fake but just goes along with it, anyway. Yeah, no shit this is “not a real interview.” It’s an obvious PR stunt from a cynical corporation trying to manufacture demand for a product no one is demanding! As if the tech bros pushing “Tilly Norwood” wouldn’t have gladly set up fake “interviews” with any self-loathing reporter who agreed to one. What a scoop you doofuses scored! What’s next, an “exclusive interview” with a jingling set of keys?
Even then, “Tilly’s” prompters couldn’t even make her look decent for this fake interview doubling as a bad advertisement where “she” is onscreen pretending to answer questions for about twenty seconds total. Why does “her” skin look like plastic? Why do “her” creepy demon eyes look like they’re moving independently of every other part of “her” face? Why is “her” entire body frozen in place during this fake interview? Jesus, dude, you can find more convincing-looking AI slop from a few seconds browsing on DeviantArt (though I would not recommend it because most of what you’ll find are creepy fetish shorts)! The entire premise of this “interview” is torpedoed by the fact that this demon-faced AI “actress” looks like Baby’s First Sora Prompt! But CNN went along with it, anyway. Because they’re not actually interested in reporting substantive news in the entertainment industry. They want to just go along with whatever consent-manufacturing campaign gets presented to them.
You want a newsworthy story related to AI-generated “actors?” Okay, let’s report on how the entertainment industry figures who seem the most excited for their potential are socially incompetent misanthropes. Like Paul Schrader, who recently justified his decision to make his next film, Three Guns At Dawn, with an exclusively AI-generated cast by telling The Playlist (and yes, this is a real quote):
I had originally written it about three black brothers, all of whom are bad guys: a corrupt cop, a drug dealer, and a sexual criminal. And they were all trying to kill each other. And Antoine Fuqua was going to produce it. We sent it out to actors, and no black actors wanted to play in a movie where there are no good black people. And it sort of died. But then AI came along, and I didn’t need black actors.
I’ll just come out and say it: I straight-up don’t believe him when he says he couldn’t find a single black actor anywhere who was willing to accept a leading role in a project spearheaded by prominent writer/director/producer who has been working in Hollywood for five decades. We know for a fact that Jonathan Majors isn’t exactly picky about his choices of roles these days. Either he’s lying and didn’t even try to cast this with humans, or the script for Three Guns At Dawn is so mind-bogglingly racist, even by the standards of an industry that has no qualms about greenlighting projects centering black gangsters and drug dealers and social outcasts, that no film producer or actor with a modicum of self-respect was willing to go near it. Or maybe the script just sucked? So much so that the man who was fine attaching his name to Infinite and Michael walked away from it, and this cranky arrogant octogenarian who allegedly doesn’t pay much heed to the consent of others decided it would just be easier for him to create fake actors with AI who can’t tell him “No” or push back on the worst parts of this screenplay?
That’s the pitch, isn’t it? That’s who “Tilly Norwood” really appeals to – people in this business who are sick and tired of doing the hard parts of actual filmmaking. People who resent the messy, complicated, unpredictable humanity that actually makes collaborative art worthwhile at all. If you want to tell human stories but have lost interest in interacting with humans, AI is probably very appealing to you. And only you.
Let’s close out this opinion piece with a take on AI from Werner Herzog we can all respect, courtesy of IndieWire:
It’s so standardized that AI can step in because there’s not real storytelling. It’s mimicry of something that has happened before. And I welcome AI to replace all the idiots who are into nothing but repeating, repeating, repeating until it’s ad nauseum. When it’s ad nauseum, please, please, please let AI step in and do the job.
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