By Mary O’KEEFE

Have you heard of the “actress” Tilly Norwood? She has been creating controversy mixed with some amazement. Norwood is a fully AI [Artificial Intelligence] created actress. 

Human actors are reacting with concern (and some with outrage) as the creator of this AI-generated “person” says she is looking for talent representation for Norwood.

In a post responding to her critics creator Eline Van der Velden stated, “I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush…”

Well of course this is supposed to replace a human actor/actress regardless of what Van der Velden said. She is also quoted as stating she wants Norwood to be the next “Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman.” So I don’t remember any “artist” saying  I want my painting to be the “next Mona Lisa.”  

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has testified before Congress and made numerous statements concerning the guardrails that need to be created with AI including personal security, the quick pace of AI development and job displacement. Yep, he at least admits that job displacement is a real concern with AI, not that it’s just a … you don’t like it because it’s art – excuse. 

Van der Velden is a Dutch born comedian, actress and producer with a master’s in physics. She also launched Xicoia, the world’s first AI talent studio … according to reports. Talent studio not art studio – just sayin’. 

The thing that makes me crazy is that these creators do not seem to know anything about science fiction because not only are they missing everything we were warned about for centuries, but they seem to be leaning into it. 

That brings me to “Star Trek,” of course, the original series. Now there are several episodes that cover AI-types of creations; however, when I heard and saw Tilly Norwood, the first thing that came to mind was “What Little Girls Are Made Of,” written by Robert Bloch and Gene Roddenberry that first aired on Oct. 20, 1966.

Basically the story focuses on Christine Chapel, Enterprise’s nurse, who discovers her former fiancé Dr. Roger Korby on a distant planet. The last time Nurse Chapel heard from Korby was five years prior; however, after two expeditions failed to find him he was given up for dead … but nope here he was with a couple of friends on planet Exo III. 

So Capt. James T. Kirk and Chapel beam down to the planet with two security officers. Every Trekkie knows being a “security officer” in the world of “Star Trek” is not always the best job and this is no different … Not long after beaming down a security officer falls down a “bottomless” cavern. And eventually the other security officer was attacked. 

But the real story is how Dr. Korby does not seem to react to the death of the officers. At first it is just, “Oh, well, he’s just an unfeeling scientist” but no – there’s something else. And then there’s this very attractive “assistant,” Andrea, and an extremely large and menacing man named Ruk who seem to be his companions. 

Come to find out Andrea and Ruk are actually androids, which the Enterprise team is not at all happy about. 

“Christine, you must realize an android is like a computer. It does only what I program,” Korby said (sound familiar?). “Do you realize the number of discoveries lost because of superstition, of ignorance, a layman’s inability to comprehend?” Again I ask – sound familiar?

It is incredible that the same arguments used to explain AI, and androids, in science fiction decades ago is still being used today. 

We just don’t understand what AI is. It is only programed to do what the creators program, it can’t think on its own. And now … it’s like a piece of art. 

Now I realize that Norwood is just an AI image and not an actual android; however, with the advances of this technology and of robots we would be naive to think actual androids are not far behind in development. 

It was eventually found out that Korby himself was an android. His body had been broken, hence the reason he was rebuilt as an android, but his mind was still his own – or so he thought. In the end he discovered that maybe the android could think beyond how it was programmed. This occurred when Andrea declared her love for Korby. This was too much for Korby to “compute” and both of their android lives ended. 

There were so many more layers to this story, like in most “Star Trek” episodes, but I think what  made me think of “What Little Girls Are Made Of” was the look of Norwood and of Andrea. There is an innocence in both of these fake humans that makes you immediately feel sympathetic toward them … and there’s the rub. Van der Velden is correct in one way: art is supposed to bring an emotional response – it just shouldn’t be followed with a dose of fear that jobs will be lost. 

We should be seeing cooler than normal temperatures for the next few days, with highs in the mid-80s. Our June Gloom continues in October with some wind expected over the weekend in the mountains and Santa Clarita area. 

NOAA is tracking a low pressure system affecting the foothill communities that could produce “moderate to strong” winds from the north and showers starting Monday and continuing into Tuesday, according to NOAA.