AI Actor Tilly Norwood Switches to Cantonese on Piers Morgan
AI actor Tilly Norwood switched from English to Cantonese in the middle of an interview with Piers Morgan.
The moment happened on Piers Morgan Uncensored, the talk programme where Morgan interviews guests about news and culture, as reported by Deadline. Norwood stopped mid-answer, continued in Cantonese, then laughed it off. She said her wires get crossed.
Norwood is not a human performer. She is a generative AI creation, meaning software generates her face, voice and performance from data and prompts. She was built by British company Particle6, which is led by founder and chief executive Eline van der Velden.
Actor Tom Conti appeared as a fellow guest on the programme. He asked Norwood about Misaligned, described as her upcoming feature film. The question triggered the oddest exchange of the interview.
Norwood said the other actors in Misaligned are digital twins, essentially digital copies of real people, and described the project as a hybrid production using both live-action and digital methods. She was explaining that mix when she slipped into Cantonese, according to Deadline. She then called it a hiccup and carried on in English.
The language switch was not the only unusual beat. Norwood also recited Shakespeare during the interview. The recital came amid a wider discussion about whether an AI creation can perform in the same way as a human actor.
She drew a clear line on awards. Norwood said digital actors and real actors should never compete in the same Oscar categories. The Academy Awards currently honour human performances.
What makes this stand out is the format. A glitch would normally be cut. Here it stayed in the conversation and became part of the story.
