AI ‘actor’ Tilly Norwood has a movie coming out. Spare us this future

TL;DR

• 1

  Tilly Norwood is an AI actor, not a human: The Guardian's Dave Schilling critiques Particle6's computer-generated character set to star in a feature film called Misaligned, dismissing it as a 'very elaborate and expensive cartoon avatar' that lacks human experience.

• 2

  The film's premise is 'coming of age' for a machine: Misaligned's plot involves Tilly being seduced by a rogue program into experiencing human emotions, but Schilling argues a program that doesn't understand time, aging, or mortality cannot have a genuine coming-of-age story.

• 3

  Particle6 still uses human crew for production: The announcement notes traditional directors, writers, and editors will work alongside AI specialists, but actors are deemed replaceable, making the movie sound like 'a video game I can't play'.

• 4

  The 'Tillyverse' is a marketing tactic to normalize AI: Schilling describes the Tillyverse, an alternate cloud universe where AI creatures play with human knowledge, as an insidious attempt to make digital life aspirational rather than just a franchise extension.

• 5

  The author suspects the film is propaganda, not art: Since an AI company funds a movie starring its own AI actor, Schilling views it as a push for public acceptance of technology that audiences have shown no interest in, citing OpenAI's shutdown of Sora as an example.