Tilly Norwood's first song: AI can be funny – thanks to 18 people
AI star Tilly Norwood has released a music video thanks to 18 real people. It's astonishingly quirky, funny, and clever.
AI star Tilly Norwood between server racks.
(Image: Screenshot/Youtube)
In a turquoise dress and as a doll, Tilly Norwood can be seen in her first music video. This is strongly reminiscent of Elsa, the current Disney favorite of all children. Thus, the song by Tilly, the AI-generated star and creator, also fits this Disney princess universe at first glance, paired with a bit of radio pop. But neither the song nor the video are simply shallow. If you look closely, it's actually quite funny. It playfully highlights the problems that AI brings with it.
The supposed AI video for the AI music by AI star Tilly was not created simply by AI. There is a hint before the video that 18 people were involved. These included real actors, production designers, costume designers, and prompters – those people who can elicit from the AI what they want, at least until regular post-production.
Tilly doesn't want to be a robot, but wants to scale
The creators want to prove their humor directly with the further hint that no flamingos were harmed during the filming of the video. This joke, of all things, is actually far too flat and worn out. In contrast, Tilly in front of the screen elicits a big grin from me, at least, when she struggles to click on all the pictures with bicycles to prove that she is not a robot.
(Image:Â Youtube)
The unspeakable exaggeration of kitsch, the absolutely intentional AI look in which London is shown at sunset, is also rather humorous. Tilly between server racks singing about scaling is also amusing.
The content of the song is overall wonderfully irritating to silly. Tilly sings about her existence, which is, of course, more than just technology. Britney Spears already knew how to report on what it's like to no longer be a child, but not yet a woman. “Behind the code, behind the light, I'm just a tool but I've got life.”
Videos by heise
“AI is not the enemy”
Now one might consider all this a plea to take AI figures seriously and equate them with humans. But then there are the absurd scenes where Tilly's face slips, where the creators let her sing that one should deal with the subject matter. Tilly wants to be more than a “dollar dream.” She wants to be real design, even alive. And then there's a direct call to actors to act to help shape the future. Because “AI is not the enemy; it's the key.” We just need to know how to use it so as not to be left behind.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externes YouTube-Video (Google Ireland Limited) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (Google Ireland Limited) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
Tilly Norwood is supposed to be an AI-generated actress and now also a musician, created by a Dutch production company. Her existence has already provoked public criticism from the Hollywood actors' union SAG-AFTRA. Of course, this concerns the question of the training data used to create the figure, as well as the rights to artistic design and competition with human actors.
No AI models without human-made content. No Tilly Norwood without AI models. Obviously. But: It is definitely a smarter engagement with the topic to create a music video than to simply want to ban everything.
(emw)
