I, for one, demand Tilly’s first showmance. I demand the inevitable messy breakup, and the glossy magazine cover story where she insists she’s “just a normal girl who loves pasta” even though she literally does not have a digestive tract.

Until then, I simply refuse to recognise her as a legitimate celebrity. 

And maybe that’s exactly the real horror here. Tilly isn’t just a new toy or a fun gimmick; she is a mirror. She is forcing us to look at the absurdity of how Hollywood creates, markets and destroys its women. If the industry’s biggest fear is that a doe-eyed AI actress can seamlessly replace real women, the problem isn’t the AI. The problem is the fact Hollywood has been treating women like algorithms for decades. 

Plug in: young, thin, palatable. Spit out: blockbuster stardom (until you age out at 35, obviously). 

Yes, Tilly Norwood is terrifying. But not only because she’s AI. She’s terrifying because she’s everything the industry has already been demanding from women: ageless, compliant, beautiful and unproblematic.

If this is the future, then fine. But mark my words: the first sign of the robot apocalypse won’t be killer drones or self-driving cars gone rogue. It’ll be Tilly Norwood, nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars while Cate Blanchett sits nearby, quietly weeping into her clutch. 

Feature image: Instagram/@tillynorwood.

Dream of a house or apartment that’s always sparkling clean? So do we! Complete our survey now on household appliances for a chance to win a $1,000 gift voucher in our quarterly draw!