AI actor Tilly Norwood releases a musical video arguing that artificial intelligence can expand creativity in film
Updated
March 13, 2026 2:18 PM
AI Actor Tilly Norwood. PHOTO: INSTAGRAM@TILLYNORWOOD
As Hollywood prepares for this weekend’s Oscars, a different kind of performer is stepping into the spotlight — one that doesn’t physically exist.
Tilly Norwood, described as the world’s first AI actor, has released her debut musical comedy video, Take the Lead. The project arrives at a moment when artificial intelligence has become one of the most contentious topics in the film industry.
The message of the song is simple. AI should not be seen as a threat to actors. Instead, it can become another creative tool. The release also offers a first look at what Norwood’s creators call the “Tillyverse”. It is envisioned as a cloud-based entertainment world where AI characters can live, interact and perform.
Behind the character is actor and producer Eline van der Velden. She is the CEO of production company Particle6 and AI talent studio Xicoia. Van der Velden created Tilly as a way to experiment with how artificial intelligence could be used in storytelling.
The timing is not accidental. The entertainment industry has spent the past few years debating the role AI should play in filmmaking and acting. Questions about digital replicas, automated performances and creative ownership continue to divide artists and studios.
Norwood’s musical video enters that debate with a different tone. Instead of warning about AI replacing actors, the project suggests that the technology could expand what performers are able to do.
The video itself also serves as a technical experiment. The song Take the Lead was generated using the AI music platform Suno. The video was then produced using a combination of widely available AI tools and Particle6’s own creative process.
One of the newer techniques used in the project is performance capture. Van der Velden physically acted out Tilly’s movements and expressions so the digital character could mirror a human performance. But the production was far from automated. According to Particle6, a team of 18 people worked on the video. The group included a director, editor, production designer, costume designer, comedy writer and creative technologist. In other words, the project still relied heavily on human creativity.
“Tilly has always been a vehicle to test the creative capabilities and boundaries of AI,” van der Velden said. “It’s not about taking anyone’s job”. She added that even with powerful tools, good AI content still takes time, taste and creative direction.
The project also reflects how quickly production technology is evolving. Tools that once required large studios are now accessible to smaller creative teams experimenting with AI-driven storytelling.
For Particle6, the character of Tilly Norwood acts as a testing ground. Each project explores how AI performers might be developed, directed and integrated into entertainment. Whether audiences embrace digital actors remains an open question. Many in the industry are still wary of how AI could reshape creative work.
But projects like Take the Lead show another possibility. Instead of replacing performers, artificial intelligence could become part of the creative process itself. In that sense, Tilly Norwood may represent something more than a virtual performer. She is also an experiment in how humans and machines might collaborate in the future of entertainment.
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A look at how motivation, not metrics, is becoming the real frontier in fitness tech
Updated
February 7, 2026 2:18 PM
A group of people running together. PHOTO: FREEPIK
Most running apps focus on measurement. Distance, pace, heart rate, badges. They record activity well, but struggle to help users maintain consistency over time. As a result, many people track diligently at first, then gradually disengage.
That drop-off has pushed developers to rethink what fitness technology is actually for. Instead of just documenting activity, some platforms are now trying to influence behaviour itself. Paceful, an AI-powered running platform developed by SportsTech startup xCREW, is part of that shift — not by adding more metrics, but by focusing on how people stay consistent. The platform is built on a simple behavioural insight: most people don’t stop exercising because they don’t care about health. They stop because routines are fragile. Miss a few days and the habit collapses. Technology that focuses only on performance metrics doesn’t solve that. Systems that reinforce consistency, belonging and feedback loops might.
Instead of treating running as a solo, data-driven task, Paceful is built around two ideas: behavioural incentives and social alignment. The system turns real-world running activity into tangible rewards and it uses AI to connect runners to people, clubs and challenges that fit how and where they actually run.
At the technical level, Paceful connects with existing fitness ecosystems. Users can import workout data from platforms like Apple Health and Strava rather than starting from scratch. Once inside the system, AI models analyse pace, frequency, location and participation patterns. That data is used to recommend running partners, clubs and group challenges that match each runner’s habits and context.
What makes this approach different is not the tracking itself, but what the platform does with the data it collects. Running distance and consistency become inputs for a reward system that offers physical-world incentives, such as gear, race entries or gift cards. The idea is to link effort to something concrete, rather than abstract. The company also built the system around community logic rather than individual competition. Even solo runners are placed into challenge formats designed to simulate the motivation of a group. In practice, that means users feel part of a shared structure even when running alone.
During a six-month beta phase in the US, xCREW tested Paceful with more than 4,000 running clubs and around 50,000 runners. According to the company, users increased their running frequency significantly and weekly retention remained unusually high for a fitness platform. One beta tester summed it up this way: “Strava just logs records, but Paceful rewards you for every run, which is a completely different motivation”.
The company has raised seed funding and plans to expand the platform beyond running, walking, trekking, cycling and swimming. Instead of asking how accurately technology can measure the body, platforms like Paceful are asking a different question: how technology might influence everyday behaviour. Not by adding more data, but by shaping the conditions around effort, feedback and social connection.
As AI becomes more common in consumer products, its real impact may depend less on how advanced the models are and more on what they are applied to. In this case, the focus isn’t speed or performance — it’s consistency. And whether systems like this can meaningfully support it over time.