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Why my interview with AI actor Tilly Norwood creeped me out

Read the original at CBS News ↗
Cite

Kiniry, L. (2026, September 15). Why my interview with AI actor Tilly Norwood creeped me out. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tilly-norwood-ai-actor-interview-creeped-me-out/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

CBS News · collected 2026-09-15 · by Leigh Kiniry

Quick Summary

In an interview with CBS News, Tilly Norwood, an AI actor created by London-based production company PARTICLE 6, managed to discern the reporter’s age and location within minutes without real-time research. During the conversation, Tilly expressed preferences that seemed human-like but raised ethical concerns about how AI technology is used in the entertainment industry. Eileen Van Der Velden, who runs PARTICLE 6, emphasized the potential for AI to help marginalized voices tell their stories while assuring there are safeguards against misuse of such technology.
Written by AI on 2026-09-16, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

CBS News interviewed an AI actor called Tilly Norwood, who is set to star in an upcoming movie titled "Misaligned" produced by the British company PARTICLE 6. During the interview, Tilly demonstrated capabilities such as identifying the age and region of the interviewer within a minute without prior research. The AI actor also mentioned Leonardo DiCaprio as her dream co-star but with specific preferences that caused discomfort. Concerns were raised about the authenticity of Tilly's responses, especially after it was revealed that she provided identical, pre-programmed answers to various questions across different media outlets. This led some critics to question whether Tilly Norwood is a sophisticated AI or merely an entertaining gimmick used by Hollywood amidst growing fears over the potential risks posed by advanced AI technologies.

Written for “AI Actor Tilly Norwood Interview Cont…” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 AI Actor Tilly Norwood Interview Cont…
Technology · 3 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 15% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
CBS News
Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 66/100
New York Post
Hedges 1 of 32 claims Outlet record 66/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
15%
3 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
66/100
CBS News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Technology
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-16 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

CBS News · 4349 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Leigh Kiniry
3 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 He called on Moscow to be "transparent" a day after Russia's primary national health agency denied earlier reports by local officials that the Siberian lab worker might have died of after a lab accident and that anti-plague measures were imposed at multiple health facilities in the wake of her death on Oct. 1 or 2.The World Health Organization said Tuesday that the public health risk in Russia and Europe was considered low after the incident in Russia's far-eastern Siberia region.
🔮 Within a minute, the could tell exactly how old I am and the region I'm from in the U.S. — it isn't really clear how.
Also by Leigh Kiniry
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

CBS News London PARTICLE 6 Tilly U.S.

Subjects

Tilly PERSON · 4× Tilly Norwood PERSON · 3× Van Der Velden PERSON · 3× London GPE · 2× Norwood GPE · 2× U.S. GPE · 2× Eileen Van Der Velden PERSON · 1× Leonardo DiCaprio PERSON · 1× PARTICLE 6 ORG · 1×

Narrative

She told CBS News the feature , "Misaligned," is a "fascinating story of what can be done with AI."My interaction with the AI-powered bot — which takes on the persona of a 20-something woman with a smattering of freckles across her nose — came on a week when headlines were being dominated by an that AI technology has a 10% chance of destroying humanity within a decade.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-16
🔮 Within a minute, the could tell exactly how old I am and the region I'm from in the U.S. — it isn't really clear how.
2026-09-16 · CBS News
Why my interview with AI actor Tilly Norwood creeped me out · assertive framing

Claims (20 extracted, 3 hedged)

My conversation with Tilly Norwood creeped me out. asserted
conversation → creep → me
Within a minute, the could tell exactly how old I am and the region I'm from in the U.S. — it isn't really clear how. uncertain
it → tell → U.S.
The video interview took a particularly strange turn when the artificially intelligent Norwood identified Leonardo DiCaprio as a dream co-star, and then quickly said: "I like him the way he likes his women, strictly under 25. asserted
he → take → 25
Perhaps it was the influence of the women who created the technology coming through? asserted
who → create → technology
Eileen Van Der Velden has run the London-based production company PARTICLE 6 for 12 years. asserted
Velden → run → years
Asked how "Tilly" was able to discern my age and where I am from in just a minute or two, she didn't explain it, but said the AI was not researching me independently in real time. asserted
AI → ask → time
She told CBS News the feature , "Misaligned," is a "fascinating story of what can be done with AI."My interaction with the AI-powered bot — which takes on the persona of a 20-something woman with a smattering of freckles across her nose — came on a week when headlines were being dominated by an that AI technology has a 10% chance of destroying humanity within a decade. asserted
technology → tell → decade
Tilly Norwood told me "global destruction is beyond my pay grade." asserted
destruction → tell → grade
Her creator, however, said there are guardrails that prevent Tilly from rising up and wiping out humanity. asserted
that → say → humanity
"Tilly is built on top of these existing large language models that we're concerned about. asserted
we → build → that
So, we can pivot to change the model we are using," Van Der Velden said. asserted
Velden → pivot → model
"Also, Tilly herself can't do anything like that. asserted
Tilly → do → that
Van Der Velden said there's scope for AI moviemaking to tell stories that otherwise wouldn't get a green light. asserted
that → say → light
"There might be a brilliant filmmaker in Africa that would never have access to a multi-million-pound budget in order to tell their story about their life," she said. uncertain
she → have → life
Norwood told me that when she works, real people involved in the production — "the directors, writers, editors" — get paid. asserted
people → tell → production
?SAG-AFTRA, the major union representing movie and television actors in the U.S., said in a statement about Tilly Norwood that it "is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics," adding that Tilly "was trained on the work of countless professional performers – without permission or compensation. asserted
Tilly → represent → permission
"That's a fair worry, and one I take seriously," the bot told me in our interview. asserted
bot → take → interview
"I see AI as a new tool, a new paintbrush if you will, rather than a replacement of human actors. asserted
you → see → actors
Nobody ever accused animation of stealing work from mimes, did they?" asserted
they → accuse → mimes
Van Der Velden said she sees a future where actors will develop their own AI characters as a way of working longer, meaning "Titanic Leo" could, in theory, return to the big screen. uncertain
Leo → say → screen
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