Friday, October 3, 2025

Tilly Norwood is a warning and a lesson to humans about the future power of AI

In today’s CEO Daily: Geoff Colvin on what we can learn from Tilly Norwood, the AI “actor” that Hollywood hates.
The big story: Putin warns U.S. against “escalation” via long-range missiles.
The markets: New record high.
Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

Good morning. What can the most-hated woman in Hollywood teach CEOs about AI? I’m speaking, of course, about Tilly Norwood, a movie actor who is 100% AI. The controversy surrounding Tilly arose when her creator said a number of agents were interested in representing her. The actors’ union responded quickly and furiously, noting that Tilly “was trained on the work of countless professional performers—without permission or compensation” and reminding producers who might want to hire Tilly that they’ll have to deal with the union (yes, really).

It was only a matter of time. In Hollywood, as in your industry, no matter what it is, the day is coming when AI will be able to replace central people or functions. You probably have a sense of who or what they might be. You may be running relevant scenario exercises.

As that day approaches, two lessons from Hollywood for all business leaders:

Never assume that a technology’s current limitations are its inherent limitations. Whoopi Goldberg on The View assured viewers this week that AI actors like Tilly are no threat to humans because “you can always tell them from us. We move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently.” It’s true, that’s the best AI can do—today. But Goldberg is making the same error as the highly intelligent computer scientists of decades past who believed computers would never translate languages very well or play chess above a middling level. Yet your phone now translates 130 languages extremely well, and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov told me a free chess app can now beat anyone, even him. Similarly, AI actors will eventually be indistinguishable from the human version.

Remember that as long as we humans remain in charge, companies must accept that we are quirky and irrational. In the movie industry’s earliest days, the producers tried to conceal the names of the actors, because the actors would gain too much power in negotiations if moviegoers knew who they were. But moviegoers had other plans. They insisted on knowing who the actors were, what they were like, what they did in their free time, and what they had for breakfast. Why did moviegoers care? They just did. It’s a human thing. Fans managed to find out what they wanted to know and spread the word. Eventually, the producers gave up—and found they could make far more money by creating movie stars. Can Tilly ever be a star and bring in the box office that stars can bring, if people know she’s not real and can never win an Oscar?

Hollywood may be an industry unto itself, but it’s offering us all a high-profile view of the AI future.—Geoff Colvin

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

Putin warns U.S. against “escalation”

The Russian president warned Washington not to assist Ukraine with long-range missiles. “Using Tomahawks without the direct participation of American military personnel is impossible. This would mark a qualitatively new, completely new stage of escalation between Russia and the U.S.,” Putin said at a panel in Sochi, Russia. Washington has agreed to provide Ukraine with intelligence for long-range strikes that could reach deep into Russia and is considering supplying Kyiv with the kit required to do that. Reality check: Putin is the one escalating the conflict in Europe. Munich airport was shut down this morning due to unauthorized drones in its airspace, and Putin joked about it in Sochi.

Taylor Swift released her new album

It’s called The Life of a Showgirl and you can listen to it on Spotify here.

Social media is in decline

Based on a survey of 250,000 users, John Burn-Murdoch, the FT’s data guru, says: “Across the developed world, adults aged 16 and older spent an average of two hours and 20 minutes per day on social platforms at the end of 2024, down by almost 10 per cent since 2022. Notably, the decline is most pronounced among the erstwhile heaviest users — teens and 20-somethings.”

OpenAI’s new Sora app gets mixed reviews

Sam Altman’s AI platform launched a new version of its video creation app. The content on it is entirely AI-generated. The results are technically impressive but there is also a lot of slop and brainrot content, according to Axios and the NYT.

UBS has $500 million exposure in First Brands' bankruptcy

The collapse of auto parts company First Brands, which failed to refinance $6 billion in private credit facilities, has left UBS holding half a billion in unsecured debt, Bloomberg says.

Bari Weiss to be head of CBS News

Bari Weiss will be named editor-in-chief of CBS News, the New York Post reports. The 41-year-old founder of The Free Press. She will report to Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison.

Land O’Lakes CEO takes on agriculture deportations with practicality

As immigration crackdowns take hold of the agriculture industry, Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford is trying to help the farmers she represents as chair of the immigration committee for the Business Roundtable. Balancing between farmers’ general support for President Trump and the practicality of her business, Ford tells Fortune that “hope is not a strategy.”

Canada jumps on American uncertainty

With the Trump administration imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications for specialized skills, Canada is seizing the opportunity to attract more international talent and strengthen its tech sector. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly told Fortune that the steep U.S. fee, combined with inconsistent American policy, is pushing some to seek Canadian stability.

Netflix offers $700,000 for fully remote AI pro

A new job opening at Netflix promises up to $700,000 per year for a fully remote generative AI product manager who will “shape and execute the road map for generative AI solutions designed to enhance personal, team, and organizational productivity across Netflix.” The job is part of a wave of high-salary positions aimed at leading AI product strategy and boosting productivity.