Acting has been a profession long performed by people for centuries. As acting became more associated with media like in films or television, this shift caused a new revolution of technologies. Visual effects were introduced into media as early as 1902 in the debut film of A Trip to the Moon by Georges Melies. Computer-generated imagery (CGI) was introduced in the 20th century but now with the integration of artificial intelligence we use, “(AI)-driven VFX, the evolution and construction of visual effects, have continually pushed the boundaries of creativity and technology” (Essien et al., 2025). This industry is seeing more integration of AI every day, including recently with the new addition of fully AI actors.
What is AI? AI stands for artificial intelligence, according to IBM artificial intelligence is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem solving, decision making, creativity, and autonomy. (2025) AI has been taking over media for years, with a more noticeable shift in the last five. Not just within the film or television industry but in everything; from google searches, news articles, and more. The sudden onset of this advancing technology has brought up a lot on uncertainties and feelings of mistrust from the public. This discussion will be analyzing examples of AI usages in mainstream media and how trust, ethics, authenticity impact AI within society as a whole.
As stated previously generative AI is not necessarily a new phenomenon, just new or changing in certain ways. News headlines are being made with the new introduction of a fully generative AI actor, Tilly Norwood. The public being frustrated and expressing disappointment with not wanting AI actors. Specifically analyzing the ethical issues that are being raised that have, “… concerns regarding identity manipulation, consent, and performer rights” (Thomas, 2024). While understandable, AI is embedded in a lot more than people may think. In many office settings and jobs around the world, “Automated reporting tools are revolutionizing how data is analyzed and presented by leveraging the powerful combination of machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP)”. (Mazrouie, 2025) This may be diffciult to understand at first, it does prove advancements in human learning as well. Another common area of AI integration is news media, it was reported from Trends Research & Advisory that, “AI-driven reporting excels particularly in areas where routine and data-heavy tasks are prevalent, such as financial reporting and sports journalism.” (Mazrouie, 2025) Business are relying on AI for quicker and cheaper productivity. Caroline McCarthy wrote in 2024, that in the entertainment industry there are more economic pressures now to cut cost and increase production. This proves to be true and easily reflected when Orange Seo reported that, “Stock photography used to be the default for many businesses needing quick visuals. Today, synthetic images created using AI are replacing traditional stock content.” (2025) AI creation is quick and easy, but is it trustworthy, ethical, and authentic?
A media review called Trust and Human – AI Interaction in The Creator by Marren and Kijan Vakilzadeh found that the technologies that are independent create risks and uncertainties that make people apprehensive. With the risks associated of new tech, society as a whole will have to navigate through AI implementation, stating “… with AI implementation and decision-making, the need for trust will increase. (2024) The creation of mistrust in artificial intelligence has emerged from some concerning factors that are not being harshly regulated by the government, these would be deepfakes. Deepfakes are often confused with AI actors but deepfakes are derived from using the imaging of real people and putting them into AI with intentional purposes. The existence of deepfakes has caused widespread confusion with the public because people can no longer distinguish what is real and what is fake. This causes people to no longer have trust in media and believe what they see. (Weikmann et al., 2024) In recent years, deepfakes seem to be targeting famous people, the rich, and politicians. One example given, was back a few years ago a deepfake of Barack Obama, who appeared to be insulting Donald Trump, had circulated in the media. (Weikmann et al., 2024) While not true, due to this mass confusion, a lot of people believed this truly happened. Deepfakes are often used in harmful ways and to cause chaos, it was found that they are often used as revenge porn. While often deepfakes are creative, they are misleading and fuel why the public is untrusting of AI. Thus raising a few questions, what are the ethics behind AI and is AI in media authentic?
Ethics is hard to define, ethics may vary from person to person, but artificial intelligence has created a wave that has people questioning whether AI is ethical or not? While looking at implications of revenge porn created through an AI deepfake, ethics is waving a large red flag. There are concerns that AI actors may be in relation to deepfakes and can manipulate how people audibly and visually, specifically saying they are “a dangerous form of visual disinformation” (Weikmann at al., 2024). Not all cases of AI in media are malice and ill willed. Found during her study and review, Carloine McCarthy noted that, “The South Korean music label HYBE created a song released by the artist MIDNATT in six different languages with AI. The singer’s voice was melded with native speakers of other languages to do so.” (2024) AI in this example spread music through multiple languages to be shared all over the world. Ethical AI should, “prioritize human-centric values such as transparency, accountability, and fairness, but many principles remain abstract and difficult to implement.” (Thomas, 2024) A massive conversation that is being had over the past few years is due to the introduction of AI actors in film and television. In 2023, SAG-AFTRA, a labor union that represents media professionals, went on strike. This strike made news headlines everywhere. A large factor of why people were striking was for regulations “…for the use of AI tools in film and TV” (Ford, 2024). Actors and actresses were particularly expressive on not want their personal data, face, body, voice, etc., to be used for artificial purposes without their consent. Or replace them entirely. A quote directly from SAG-AFTRA says, “to protect human-created work and require informed consent and fair compensation when a ‘digital replica’ is made of a performer, or when their voice, likeness, or performance will be substantially changed using AI” (2023) Anything other than those terms would not be ethical. Jumping to now, 2025, we have our first introduction to Tilly Norwood a full autonomous AI actor. Concern was voiced over the introduction of Norwood, claiming she is not a person rather than an AI tool. Following with the concern of where the tool got its works from and was consent given. (Ford, 2025) Not only are ethics a concern but so is authenticity.
Everyone has heard the word authentic but what does it actually mean? According to the Cambridge dictionary to be authentic is the quality of being real or true. So how can intelligence that is artificial, which means fake, to be authentic? A lot of people ask themselves that very question. Well, the creator of AI actress Tilly Norwood, gives credit to Norwood’s authentic look. In an interview it was stated, “…her team went about giving Norwood the “‘girl next door’ authenticity” after being questioned about Norwood’s ability to snub human actors out of a job and what ethical concerns may be raised by this AI actress she followed with, “that Norwood will “not take real actors’ jobs” and denied Norwood will be a negative role model to teens because “girls know she can never be real, which is better than real people who have all sorts of filters.” (Goldbart, 2025) Since her emersion, the entertainment industry has created AI fever. It was announced recently that a new fully AI generated show would be created based on a historically accurate and “authentic” depiction of the Netherlands. They are to use archived materials and turn them into AI to depict this level of authenticity, the producers claimed, “Particle6 will use both real historical characters and imagined ones to convey key facts through real stories about events in the Netherlands at this time.” (Ritman, 2025) True authenticity of this show would be to have real and tangible items, not generated images on a screen. In a time where people have a hard time distinguishing what is authentic and what is fake, fully AI actors or fully AI shows may not be wise. A study was done after two experiments was conducted to examine how people who react to film that was with AI. It was found that, “the AI label increases perceived novelty, this slight positive effect is outweighed by a significant drop in perceived quality, leading to lower watching willingness.” Later the study stated, “Narrative transportation was higher when AI played supporting roles alongside human leads.” (Dong, 2025) AI innovation was supported from viewers but only when paired with real people. Companies rely on people believing that their work is authentic, which comes from a deep sense of trust for that media. (Orange Sea, 2025) People are at an all-time high with wanting authentic content over AI content, therefor it is imperative that the creators of AI actors, films, tv, articles, songs, or whatever can prove to be trustworthy, authentic, and ethical.
Media has been the epicenter of society’s lives for years; AI is just an advancement that is being implemented along with it. With that AI will introduce the world to great things with successful advancements. That does not mean there are not uncertainties. The public is not all the way on board with the full integration of AI that is being pushed. There is a large lack of trust. People in the entertainment industry are concerned about the ethics behind AI and AI actors. They do not want to be replaced or have their own voices taken from them. How are we able to keep protections for people against technology? Lastly, is the stuff we see or hear true, what is real and what is not? How can something artificial be authentic? With regulations being fought for, like with the SAG-AFTRA, AI can be all those things if done responsibly. After all the core principles of responsible AI include, “accountability, responsibility, and transparency…” (Thomas, 2024).
Works Cited
Dong, X., & Zhang, H. (2025). Can AI Replace Actors? Research on the Label Effect of Movie Actor on Audience Watching Intentions and Transportation. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2025.2555705
Essien, Essien Oku, Awni Kalkat, and Sonika Lamichhane. (2025). “Human Artistry in an AI-Driven Film Industry: Evaluating the Role of Creativity in Hollywood VFX.” The Journal of Communication and Media Studies 10 (1): 63-82. doi:10.18848/2470-9247/CGP/v10i01/63-82.
Ford, L. (2025). Tilly Norwood Is “an AI Tool, Not a Performer” Says U.K. Acting Union Equity: “We Are Concerned About Where That Work Has Come From”. The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tilly-norwood-ai-actress-uk-union-equity-sag-aftra-debate-1236391739/
Goldbart, M. (2025). “I Thought About Making Her Half Robot”: Tilly Norwood Creator On Why Controversial AI Actress Needed “Girl Next Door Authenticity”. Deadline. https://deadline.com/2025/12/tilly-norwood-creator-ai-actress-girl-next-door-half-robot-1236635721/
Mazrouei, N. (2025). AI-Generated Content in Journalism: The Rise of Automated Reporting. Trends Research & Advisory. https://trendsresearch.org/insight/ai-generated-content-in-journalism-the-rise-of-automated-reporting/?srsltid=AfmBOoqIWlH97972m4oY8akVxYCxmDKQ6K1ZW2XGJYsaHN6ZRn1q0zxR
McCarthy, R. C. (2024). Artificial Intelligence and the Entertainment Industry. Honors Theses and Capstones. https://scholars.unh.edu/honors/857
Orange SEO. (2025). The AI Boom in Content Creation VS. The Rise of Authenticity: Why Genuine Visuals are Winning Trust. https://www.orangeseo.net/blog/2025/5/2/the-ai-boom-in-content-creation-vs-the-rise-of-authenticity-why-genuine-visuals-are-winning-trust
Ritman, A. (2025). Tilly Norwood Creator Unveils New AI-Led Series Commission for History Channel. Variety. https://variety.com/2025/tv/global/tilly-norwood-company-ai-led-series-history-channel-1236583502/
Thomas, S. (2024). AI and Actors: Ethical Challenges, Cultural Narratives and Industry Pathways in Synthetic Media Performance. Emerging Media, 2(3), 523-546. https://doi.org/10.1177/27523543241289108 (Original work published 2024)
Vakilzadeh, M., & Vakilzadeh, K. (2024). Media Review: Trust and Human–AI Interaction in The Creator. Organization Studies, 46(8), 1218-1221. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/10.1177/01708406241304509(Original work published 2025)
Weikmann, T., Greber, H., & Nikolaou, A. (2024). After Deception: How Falling for a Deepfake Affects the Way We See, Hear, and Experience Media. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 30(1), 187-210. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612241233539 (Original work published 2025)
AI Actors: Authentic and Ethical? 