Tilly Norwood the pop star?

The AI creation, never one to shy away from the limelight since her controversial debut last year, has now dropped a bizarre music video in which she attempts to address the backlash against her and AI through the power of song.

The tongue-in-cheek video for “Take the Lead” — with a main verse in which she sings “AI’s not the enemy, it’s the key” — sees Norwood across London, on chat shows, on billboards, getting selfies with fans, performing in stadiums and generally being a major A-list celebrity. That’s before it takes a peculiar pink twist filled with flamingoes, a Tilly-themed plane, flying dolphins a giant inflatable building and much, more more. At one point, a young girl is seen clutching Tilly doll, while in another Norwood struggles to pass a computer CAPTCHA check verifying she’s a human.

It’s probably fair to say that “Take the Lead” — featuring lyrics encouraging actors “build your own” AI avatars in order to “be free” — is unlikely to be performed at the Oscars.

Made by Particle6, the company behind Norwood, the video reportedly comes ahead of what it claims is “Tilly’s official AI acting debut later this year” and offers the first glimpse into the “evolving Tillyverse, a new entertainment world – based in the cloud – where AI characters live, interact and work.”

The song itself was inspired by a recently published essay written by Eline van der Velden (and the real-life actor behind the AI actor), the CEO of Particle6 and AI talent studio Xicoia — alongside the “growing conversation” around the technology. The lyrics reportedly reflect on last year’s extreme backlash following her debut, but “mostly focus on the humanity and creativity behind Tilly.”

It was generated using Suno, with the accompanying video created by the team at Particle6 using a suite of AI tools, combined with its proprietary creative process. van der Velden actually acted out Tilly’s performance. The team comprised 18 people (actual real people) in roles such as executive producer, director, production designer, costume designer, creative prompter, creative technologist, comedy writer, editor, production assistant, production co-ordinator and an actor.

“Tilly is, and has always been, a vehicle to test the creative capabilities and boundaries of AI – not take anyone’s job. As an actor myself, I have loved bringing Tilly alive for this video and feel that the ability to now use performance capture in this way, to fully inhabit an AI character, is a phenomenal way to bring an unknown actor like me closer to the craft,” said van der Velden.

“However, at the end of the day, even with brilliant new technology, it’s still important to stress that great AI content isn’t instant — it always takes good ideas, taste, direction, judgement and time. In other words: people remain at the heart of it.”

See the video for “Take the Lead” below