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28 Jan 2026 8:12
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  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Chris Pratt will not let artificial intelligence (AI) actors end his acting career

    The 46-year-old star has hit out at AI 'actress' Tilly Norwood and insisted the panic within tinsel town about the computer-generated creation replacing humans in roles is "bulls***".


    Chris - who has been acting professionally for over two decades - told Variety: "I don't feel like someone's going to replace me that's AI. This Tilly Norwood thing, I think it's all bulls***. I've never seen her in a movie, I don't know who this b**** is. It's all fake, until it's something."

    The actor - whose new film, Mercy, shows viewers a future where AI is in charge - thinks it can be an "amazing tool" for filmmakers to tell stories, and could enable cost-effective productions.

    Chris added: "It's inevitably going to disrupt the industry. We're in the midst of an intellectual revolution. We are not the first or last industry to be disrupted by AI, and I think we just keep chugging forward.

    "Great filmmakers are going to keep making great films, and they're probably going to implement these tools if it helps streamline productions, if it helps bring the cost of production down, it's inevitable."

    But, ultimately, the Guardians of the Galaxy star says AI will not replace the "human soul" - which he thinks is vital in productions.

    Chris continued: "And I don't think you're going to replace the human soul of a director or a writer, or an actor, or a singer, or any of this stuff that requires human learning, and suffering, and vision, and art.

    "There's a soul connection when you're watching a movie. You might not be able to put a finger on what you're digesting, the way you can by saying, 'Oh, my eyes are seeing this. My ears are hearing this.'

    "Our hearts also connect to material, and we might not fully comprehend that sense, but it's there, and in the absence of a true connection there, it's just not going to feel right. It's not going to feel good.

    "We're going to be missing something. We might not be able to fully articulate what we're missing, but I think it's the human soul. That gives me comfort."

    In 2025, Tilly's creator, Eline van der Velden, insisted that it had not been designed to replace humans, but is "a piece of art".

    She said: "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood: she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work - a piece of art.

    "Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity. I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush.

    "Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I'm an actor myself, and nothing - certainly not an AI character - can take away the craft or joy of human performance.

    "Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance.

    "It takes time, skill, and iteration to bring such a character to life. She represents experimentation, not substitution. Much of my work has always been about holding up a mirror to society through satire, and this is no different."

    © 2026 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

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