Pop stars, you can breathe easy. AI-generated triple threat Tilly Norwood’s debut single is proof your job is safe for now.
The single’s four-minute music video, which debuted on streaming services on Tuesday, is a montage of apparently AI-generated scenes, often deliberately over-the-top, depicting Norwood’s imagined path to global superstardom. At one point, she is chased by paparazzi. At another venue, they performed to a packed stadium.
“When they talk about me, they don’t see/The human brilliance, the creativity/Behind the cord, behind the light/I’m just a tool, but I have life,” Norwood sings on “Take the Lead.”
Reactions to the song and its video, which had more than 100,000 views on YouTube as of Thursday, have been mixed at best. But the founder of Particle6, the AI studio that underpinned Norwood’s career (or anything else), said releasing chart-topping tracks wasn’t the goal.
“When we created the ‘Take the Lead’ video with Tilly Norwood, the goal wasn’t just to release the track or seek success on the music charts,” Particle6 founder Elaine van der Velden told Business Insider. “This was to show people the current capabilities of AI and how actors and AI can work together in a hybrid way using performance capture, and to demonstrate that human input is still important.”
The company states at the beginning of the music video that 18 “real people” worked on its production, including teleprompters, production designers, editors, and actors.
AI has disrupted the entertainment industry. Proponents believe the technology could shorten production time and reduce costs. Critics worry that AI could take away people’s jobs, infringe on copyrighted material or, as Matthew McConaughey has warned, copy celebrities’ likenesses without their consent. Ben Affleck just sold the AI company he founded focused on post-production tools to Netflix
“AI in music and performance is still new territory, and when you put something experimental out there, people are going to have an opinion,” she said.
Opinions online were mostly negative. One YouTube user wrote: “It only took 18 people to achieve this level of soullessness? Imagine what 19 could have done.”
“This is truly soulless,” added another.
The music video for “Take the Lead” was created using 18 “real people.” tilly norwood
The creators of this video leaned into the genre and had fun showing what is possible with AI. For example, in one scene, Norwood takes to the skies on a flamingo pool float, where he encounters a pod of glittering pink dolphins and a flying acrobat.
“Actors, it’s time to take charge/Create your future, sow the seeds/Don’t be left behind, don’t fall behind/Build it yourself and you’ll be free/We can expand, we can grow/We can be the creators we’ve always known/This is the next evolution, you know? AI isn’t the enemy, it’s the key,” Norwood sings.
At the end of the song, Norwood calls on the AI actors to “help” and “come on stage.”
“The next evolution is all the rage/Unlock it all, don’t hold back,” she sang. “AI actors, we create our destiny.”
