Actor, comedian and technologist Eline Van der Velden has disclosed that her newly launched AI talent studio Xicoia is in discussions with several talent agents interested in signing its first creation, AI actress Tilly Norward.
Van der Velden discussed the development on a panel at the Zurich Summit on Saturday, where she presented her AI production company Particle6 and then took part in a conversation about AI advancements in the entertainment sector alongside Verena Puhm, head of Luma AI’s new Studio Dream Lab LA.
Both Van der Velden and Puhm implied that studios and other media and entertainment firms have been quietly adopting AI out of the public eye, and to anticipate public announcements about prominent projects leveraging the technology in the months ahead.
“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 disclosure of a potential agency deal for Tilly Norward follows just days after Van der Velden formally unveiled Particle6 spin-off Xicoia, an AI talent studio created to develop, manage and commercialize a new wave of hyperreal digital celebrities.
If the talent agency signing materializes, Norwood will be among the first AI-generated actresses to secure representation with a talent agency, which traditionally works with real-world performers.
Former AI artist Puhm, whose appointment as head of startup Luma AI’s new Studio Dream Lab LA was revealed in July, agreed with Van der Velden that the studios’ stance had shifted.
“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 major companies and studios were developing AI-assisted projects but, bound by NDAs, she was unable to disclose specifics.
“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.”
See also: Key Insights From Variety’s Entertainment Technology Summit
