Actor, comedian technologist Eline Van der Velden has revealed that her recently launched AI talent studio Xicoia is in talks with a number of talent agents interested in signing its first creation, AI actress Tilly Norward.
Van der Velden talked about the development on a panel at the Zurich Summit on Saturday, where she gave a presentation on her AI production studio Particle6 and then joined a discussion on AI developments in the entertainment industry alongside Verena Puhm, head of Luma AI’s new Studio Dream Lab LA.
Both Van der Velden and Puhm suggested that studios and other media and entertainment companies were quietly embracing AI under the radar, and to expect public announcements about high-profile projects using the technology in the coming months.
“We were in a lot of boardrooms around February time, and everyone was like, ‘No, this is nothing. It’s not going to happen’. Then, by May, people were like, ‘We need to do something with you guys.’ When we first launched Tilly, people were like, ‘What’s that?’, and now we’re going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months,” said Van der Velden.
The revelation of a possible agent signing for Tilly Norward comes just days after Van der Velden officially announced the creation of Particle6 offshoot Xicoia, an AI talent studio designed to create, manage and monetize a new generation of hyperreal digital stars.
If the talent agency signing comes to pass, Norwood will be one of the first AI generated actresses to get representation with a talent agency, traditionally working with real-life stars.
Former AI artist Puhm, whose appointment as head of startup Luma AI’s new Studio Dream Lab LA was announced in July, concurred with Van der Velden on the mood changing at the studios.
“I remember having meetings with the studios as an AI artist before joining Luma. Some said, ‘Oh, no, we’re not using AI.’ I knew some were lying, they were already secretly working on some stuff, but some were not open to it at all. Then definitely this year, kind of like March, April, people called me and wanted to talk to me,” she said.
“They were discussing me being a liaison between directors and the AI artists… at that time I was traveling around a lot and educating about workflows and pipelines and how it can be integrated, and then all a sudden that was becoming very interesting to them. It was a different language to them and they were like, ‘We really have to get people from the outside that have worked in the AI industry’.
“Historically, the studios have been very slow to adapt, at least publicly, they need that influx of new creatives, and new creative technologists to come in and actually show them how it’s done. You can assume that a lot of them are already working on it.”
Puhm said all the big companies and studios were working on AI assisted projects but being under NDA, she was not in a position to announce any of the details.
“We really want to make them feel comfortable through their testing, through their projects, and working on real projects… we want it to be their decision on when they want to say it out loud, but honestly, I think this year is going to be interesting. In the beginning of next year, there’s going to be a lot of announcements.”
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