AI actress Tilly Norwood glitches and starts speaking Chinese during interview
“Seems I had a little hiccup”
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- AI actress Tilly Norwood switched to Cantonese during a Piers Morgan interview.
- Norwood apologized and said she had a hiccup, but appeared unaware of the language switch.
- AI's publicist noted that the version of Norwood that spoke with Morgan is an "interview-only" model.
- "Talking Tilly" is powered by an LLM, with a 12-page system prompt that defines personality, humor and boundaries.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
AI actress Tilly Norwood left TV host Piers Morgan and veteran actor Tom Conti baffled after glitching mid-interview and suddenly switching to Chinese.
During a video-conference interview with Morgan, and Oscar-nominated Conti – who played Albert Einstein in Oppenheimer – Norwood was questioned about her upcoming feature film, Misaligned.
“Are the other actors on the screen with you real actors? Or are they computer-generated images?” Conti asked.
Norwood, a generative AI creation from British company Particle6, began explaining that her co-stars were digital twins like her – before something apparently went wrong.
Mid-answer, the English-accented synth suddenly started speaking in Cantonese, prompting puzzled glances between Morgan and Conti.
“I didn’t quite get that,” Conti said.
Morgan jumped in: “Tilly, it’s Piers here. If I may ask you, you’ve suddenly started speaking in Chinese, for no reason. Why did you do that?”
Apparently unaware of what had just happened, Norwood replied: “Oh, my apologies. It seems that I had a little hiccup there. I certainly didn’t mean to start speaking Chinese or impersonating Piers.
Sometimes my wires get a bit crossed, you know?AI actress Tilly Norwood admits.
“How often do you randomly start speaking Chinese when you are speaking to two English people?” Morgan probed.
Norwood responded with the sort of bland and breezy explanation familiar to anyone who has encountered an AI behaving strangely.
“Honestly, not often at all. That was a bit of a curve ball even for me. It’s usually a pretty smooth ride, but sometimes these things happen.”
That was meant to happen, says AI's publicist
According to Particle6’s publicist, Tilly's language slip was not a malfunction and “clearly shows what she’s capable of.”
“Tilly would have thought she heard a Cantonese word and quickly switched,” she told Forbes.
The publicist noted that the version of Norwood that spoke with Morgan is called “Talking Tilly” an interview-only AI that is separate from the actor version, powered by different tools.
She revealed that "Talking Tilly” is powered by an LLM with a 12-page system prompt that defines her personality, humor and boundaries, as well as a "knowledge base of up to 30 documents covering her world, her work and her views.”
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It was this version of Tilly that embarked on a press tour this week and Piers Morgan's show was not the only awkward encounter she has had in the UK.
The AI character also appeared live on Good Morning Britain, where hosts Ed Balls and Susanna Reid quizzed her on the ethics surrounding her creation.
Norwood is an AI-generated actress created by Eline van der Velden, a Dutch comedian, writer, actress and producer.
Van der Velden has also launched AI talent studio Xicoia, which aims to create and manage “digital stars” like Norwood.
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Norwood has been steadily building her synthetic showbiz résumé. In March, the AI appeared in a bizarre music video featuring an original song packed with lyrics touting the virtues of artificial intelligence.
