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The production company behind controversial AI “actress” Tilly Norwood has announced plans to create a new AI-powered historical travel series with the History Channel in the Netherlands.
Streets of the past (Streets of the past) is a planned 10-part series. commissioned by Hearst Networks, Partial owner of History, which will see historian and writer Korjan Mol travel to various Dutch landmarks, which will then be made to look like they were in different historical periods, using generative artificial intelligence tools.
Particle6, a British artificial intelligence company founded by Elin van der Velden, will use archival materials such as paintings, prints and photographs to create scenes for Maul to interact with.
Examples were given of the popular Rokin shopping and trading street in Amsterdam, where the world's first stock exchange was established in the 17th century, and the historic Janskerhof square in Utrecht, the site of the resistance during the Second World War.
AI enters the industry
This is not the first historical reconstruction program featuring AI to air; earlier this year, Hearst announced a documentary series Killer Kingswhich he was moving like “The first documentary series to air using images entirely generated by artificial intelligence.”
And what The variety is considered “In a deliberately provocative move,” Britain's Channel 4 last month aired a documentary filmed entirely by the AI presenter.
Speaking at this year's International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, Portuguese director Susana de Souza Dias said the incursion of generative artificial intelligence into the world of documentary filmmaking threatens its very existence.
“There is a risk here that not only will viewers believe fake archival material, but people will stop believing anything,” she said. “In both cases our regime of truth has been completely shaken.”
Particle6 gained widespread attention earlier this year after announcing the release of synth artist Tilly Norwood, an AI-powered creation that studios could theoretically use in their projects.
In a statement addressing widespread concerns, Van der Velden said AI is not a replacement for actors. Instead, she described it simply as a “new tool” similar to computer-generated imagery (CGI), allowing creators to solve problems in new ways.
“AI offers a different way to imagine and create stories,” Van der Velden wrote. “As an actor myself, nothing—especially an AI character—can take away the skill or joy of human acting.”
European AI company Particle6 says its AI creation Tilly Norwood has attracted a lot of interest, but Hollywood actors including Emily Blunt, Melissa Barrera and Whoopi Goldberg, as well as the union SAG-AFTRA, have spoken out against the AI character.
However, the move was opposed by existing trade unions.
In a statement, Hollywood's main artists union, SAG-AFTRA, argued that creating Tilly Norwood “doesn't solve any 'problem' – it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, threaten performers' livelihoods, and devalue human art.”
The question of how much, or whether, generative AI should be used in film and television has become an existential question for the industry. Earlier this month, actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine became the latest performers to license their images to a generative artificial intelligence company.
McConaughey commissioned AI voice production company ElevenLabs to use AI to create an audio version of his newsletter in Spanish, read in McConaughey's own voice. And Kane simultaneously licensed his voice for use in the text-to-voice app ElevenReader, as well as allowing it to be used on his AI-voice marketplace.
Others in the industry have tried to push back against AI's involvement. Toni Collette, Ralph Ineson and Odessa A'tzion are among the actors who have expressed anger over Tilly Norwood's tool. boycott talent agencies that use it.
“I hope all the actors who are represented by the agent who does this leave their asses.” Scream actress Melissa Barrera wrote on her Instagram story. “How disgusting, read the room.”
