Pop stars, you can breathe easy. The debut single from AI-generated triple-threat Tilly Norwood is evidence that your jobs are safe — for now.
The single’s 4-minute music video, which first hit streaming services on Tuesday, is a montage of obviously AI-generated scenes, often intentionally over-the-top, depicting Norwood’s imaginary path to global superstardom. At one point, she is hounded by paparazzi. At another, she performs for a sold-out stadium.
“When they talk about me, they don’t see/The human spark, the creativity/Behind the code, behind the light/I’m just a tool, but I’ve got life,” Norwood sings in “Take the Lead.”
The reaction to the song and its video, which has over 100,000 views on YouTube as of Thursday, has been mixed at best. However, the founder of Particle6, the AI studio behind Norwood’s career (or whatever), said releasing a chart-topping track was not the goal.
“When we made the video for ‘Take the Lead’ with Tilly Norwood, the goal wasn’t just to release a track or seek music chart success,” Particle6 founder Eline van der Velden told Business Insider. “It was to show people the current capabilities of AI and how actors and AI can now work together in a hybrid way with performance capture, and demonstrate that human input is still key.”
At the start of the music video, the company notes that 18 “real humans” were behind the production, including prompters, production designers, editors, and an actor.
AI has divided the entertainment industry. Supporters think the tech could shorten production time and lower costs. Critics worry AI could take human jobs, infringe on copyrighted material, or, as Matthew McConaughey has warned, mimic celebrities’ likenesses without their consent. Ben Affleck just sold an AI company he founded that focused on post-production tools to Netflix
“AI in music and performance is still new territory, and when you put something experimental out into the world, people are going to have opinions,” she said.
The opinions online were largely dismissive. “It took only 18 humans to achieve this level of soullessness? Imagine what 19 could have done,” one YouTube user wrote.
“This is so soulless,” another added.
The video’s makers leaned into its genre, having fun showing what AI could make possible. There is, for instance, a scene in which Norwood rides a flamingo pool floatie into the sky, where she meets a pod of glittery pink dolphins and sky-bound acrobats.
“Actors, it’s time to take the lead/Create the future, plant the seed/Don’t be left out, don’t fall behind/Build your own, and you’ll be free/We can scale, we can grow/Be the creators we’ve always known/It’s the next evolution, can’t you see? AI’s not the enemy, it’s the key,” Norwood sings.
At the end of the song, Norwood calls on AI actors to “take your power” and “take the stage.”
“The next evolution is all the rage/Unlock it all, don’t hesitate,” she sang. “AI Actors, we create our fate.”
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