Chris Pratt Shrugs Off Tilly Norwood and AI Takeover Fears: "I Don’t Know Who This Bitch Is"
Chris Pratt isn’t losing sleep over AI taking over Hollywood, and he made that clear while walking the red carpet in New York. Speaking with Variety at the premiere of Mercy, Pratt brushed off the growing anxiety around synthetic performers and straight-up dismissed the hype surrounding AI actor Tilly Norwood.
“I don’t feel like someone’s gonna replace me that’s AI,” Pratt said. “I heard this Tilly Norwood thing, I think that’s all bullshit. I’ve never seen her in a movie. I don’t know who this bitch is. It’s all fake until it’s something.”
That blunt take landed amid an industry-wide debate about whether artificial intelligence could eventually edge out real actors. For Pratt, the fear feels premature.
He acknowledged that AI is going to shake things up, but he doesn’t see it erasing the human element that makes movies matter in the first place. In his view, the technology has potential when used responsibly and creatively, without pushing people out of the equation.
Pratt said AI can be “an amazing tool in the right hands,” while also admitting it will “inevitably disrupt the industry.” Even so, he remains confident that talented storytellers will continue doing what they do best.
He doesn’t believe software can replicate the emotional core that fuels great performances or meaningful storytelling.
“I don’t think you’re going to replace the human soul of a director or a writer or an actor or a singer or any of this stuff that requires human yearning and suffering and vision in art.”
The comments come in response to the controversy surrounding Tilly Norwood, a fully synthetic AI performer created by Dutch comedian Eline Van der Velden. When Van der Velden introduced the digital character at the Zurich Film Festival last summer and suggested Tilly could soon land representation, the reaction from Hollywood was swift and heated.
SAG-AFTRA pushed back hard, warning that AI performers pose “the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.”
Van der Velden responded by describing Tilly as an art project rather than a threat, saying she is “not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work – a piece of art.”
Pratt isn’t alone in questioning how far AI can really go. Earlier this year, Leonardo DiCaprio shared a similar perspective, arguing that technology can assist filmmakers but can’t replace genuine expression.
“It could be an enhancement tool for a young filmmaker to do something we’ve never seen before,” DiCaprio said. “I think anything that is going to be authentically thought of as art has to come from the human being.”
For now, Pratt seems unfazed by digital doppelgängers and synthetic stars. From his standpoint, until AI can bring real emotion, struggle, and imagination to the screen, the panic surrounding virtual actors isn’t worth buying into.