Actors union SAG-AFTRA is standing strong against the conceit of AI “actor” Tilly Norwood.

The U.S. labor union, which went on strike for 118 days in 2023, on Tuesday released a statement decrying the digital creation.

“SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered,” reads SAG-AFTRA’s news release. “The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics. To be clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers — without permission or compensation. It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience.”

Rather than “solve any ‘problem,’” such a pivot will risk “jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry,” the statement continued.

The actors’ union reminded producers they still have to abide by “contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used.”

The Norwood project comes from AI company Particle 6 Productions. Its founder, Dutch comedian and self-proclaimed “physics nerd” Eline Van der Velden, has also announced Xicoia, chillingly dubbed, “the world’s first artificial intelligence talent studio.”

Though she said in July that she hopes Norwood will “be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman,” Van der Welden ultimately walked back her comments, defending Norwood Sunday as an “AI character.”

“I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool — a new paintbrush,” she explained in an Instagram statement. “I also believe AI characters should be judged as part of their own genre, on their own merits, rather than compared directly with human actors.”

The industry is still recovering from the COVID pandemic as well as the 2023 work stoppage took place alongside the Writers Guild of America’s historic 148-day strike, shuttering a bulk of Hollywood.