Key Points
Whoopi Goldberg sounded the alarm over the rise of AI actress Tilly Norwood.
“You won’t have any connection” to tech-based entertainment over a human star, Goldberg said.
The View moderator Goldberg is an EGOT-winning actress known for roles in Ghost, Sister Act, and The Color Purple.
After doing battle with a virtual reality experience that knocked her to the ground and sounding the alarm over Amazon Alexa in her house, The View moderator Whoopi Goldberg has officially added AI actress Tilly Norwood to The Whoopi Goldberg War Room™’s terror watchlist.
In the wake of industry agencies reportedly showing interest in signing the AI actress — which prompted intense backlash from members of the Hollywood community — EGOT-winning actress Goldberg addressed the topic Monday from her post on the talk show.
“After many human actors called for a boycott against agencies who sign AI actors, the studio claims Tilly is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work, and AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, rather than compared directly with human actors,” Goldberg said, delivering her introduction with a tinge of sarcasm in her voice.
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‘The View’ on Sept. 29, 2025
Conservative cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin indicated she selected the topic to discuss because she was specifically interested in hearing Goldberg’s take, and the rest of the panel let Goldberg speak for the entirety of the segment as a result.
“The problem with this, in my humble opinion, is that you are suddenly up against something that’s been generated with 5,000 other actors,” Goldberg said. “It’s got Bette Davis’ attitude, it’s got Humphrey Bogart’s lips,” she continued, while Griffin added that it has Goldberg’s humor.
“It’s got my humor, thank you darling,” Goldberg continued, “And so it’s a little bit of an unfair advantage. You know what? Bring it on. You can always tell them from us. We move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently.”
The 69-year-old Ghost, Sister Act, and The Color Purple actress continued, looking forward to “maybe in two or three years” that the technology might “be seamless,” but “it isn’t seamless yet,” she observed.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to hold on because what this means is AI in the workplace — not just my workplace, but in every industry,” Goldberg said. “Some industries are using AI now. People talk about people are so lonely they don’t have a connection, if you stick with this, with AI, you won’t have any connection to anything but your phone.”
Before turning the show over to a commercial break, Goldberg made a sexual joke in the moment, suggesting, “That’s not fun because the phone can’t do, yet…” she said, trailing off as the audience and her cohosts picked up the vibe she was putting down. “We’ll be right back,” Goldberg finished.
In recent days, Norwood’s rise has led to sustained pushback from entertainers, prompting creator Eline Van Der Velden to release a statement addressing the controversy.
“Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity,” Van Der Velden said.
She continued, saying that, “I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool,” adding, “Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting.”
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Goldberg has long warned her audiences about the rise of AI and technological advances, particularly Amazon Alexa.
“You know she is listening. I don’t want her in the house,” Goldberg said on The View in May 2023. “I don’t want anything that is smart enough to lock me out of my house, I don’t want anything that won’t let me drive my car. When you watch science fiction, it’s right there. They tell you: This is the future.”
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on ABC.
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