Ryan Reynolds is sharing the spotlight with the real Tilly Norwood in a new Mint Mobile ad.
Tilly Norwood caused rumblings around Hollywood when the talent agents were looking for representation for the AI-generated actress.
Mint Mobile is capitalizing on the controversy to raise awareness about a new service they are offering, featuring a real human being named Natalie “Tilly” Norwood in a new spot opposite the Deadpool star.
“Everything about Mint Mobile seems unreal,” Reynolds says in the spot meant to promote their 5G Home Internet offering.
Reynolds introduces a “real Mint Mobile” customer, signaling Norwood to appear on screen, and asks her, “You are real, right?”
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“Yup,” Norwood replies with Reynolds adding, “Not an AI-generated combination of actors?”
Norwood then says, “I’m a combination of my parents.”
RELATED: Melissa Barrera, Lukas Gage & More React To AI Actress Tilly Norwood As Some Suggest Agency Boycott: “Read The Room”
The AI-generated actress created shockwaves in the industry with fears of humans being replaced by AI in the future.
SAG-AFTRA weighed in on the controversy, saying the guild “believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics.”
“To be clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers – without permission or compensation,” SAG-AFTRA continued. “It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience.”
Actor, comedian, and technologist Eline Van der Velden revealed in a panel at the industry-focused Zurich Summit that she was in talks with several talent agents interested in signing her AI-generated creation, actress Tilly Norwood.
Backlash to Tilly Norwood ensued with the likes of Melissa Barrera, Lukas Gage, Kiersey Clemons, and more condemning it.
Watch the Mint Mobile spot below.