NBC News put an AI-generated actress in the guest chair Monday, interviewing Tilly Norwood on 3rd Hour of Today as if she were a conventional celebrity subject.
Entertainment correspondent Chloe Melas spoke by video call with Norwood, an AI-generated actress who debuted in September 2025. The interview aired on 3rd Hour of Today, where co-host Al Roker introduced the segment by asking, “How bizarre is this?” Melas called it “quite an assignment.”
The setup looked much like an ordinary remote interview. Norwood appeared in a room decorated with lightbulbs and a plastic flamingo while Melas asked questions. Melas later said the experience “kind of felt like talking to ChatGPT.”
Asked why she was giving interviews, Norwood described herself as “a new kind of paintbrush.” When Melas asked which actress she most resembled, Norwood said she was not trying to imitate a human performer but offered Scarlett Johansson as a comparison.
Johansson has separately been at the center of a dispute over AI and likeness. In 2024, she objected to an OpenAI voice she said sounded similar to hers after declining the company’s request to license her voice. OpenAI denied that the voice was modeled on Johansson and later paused its use.
Melas also asked Norwood about warnings from AI researchers, including concerns that increasingly powerful systems could pose serious risks. Norwood responded that the concerns were serious and said her purpose was to be “a creative tool, not a threat.” Mediaite’s account does not describe how that response was generated or whether it was prepared in advance.
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Melas told viewers after the interviewer it was “pretty clear” that she had not been speaking with a human. She said Norwood’s voice sounded robotic, the avatar glitched and repeated answers, and Norwood forgot their earlier conversations when Melas hung up and called back. The avatar could still react to Melas’ appearance and surroundings.
That combination makes the segment an unusual editorial test. NBC used the familiar structure of a correspondent interviewing a guest, then had Melas explain afterward where the interaction differed from a human interview. Mediaite’s account does not provide enough detail to determine what additional on-screen labels or disclosures accompanied the segment.
The appearance also arrives amid broader debates over how news organizations and platforms handle AI-generated material. Related Media Copilot coverage has examined AP’s AI newsroom guidance, YouTube’s approach to synthetic-video labels and AI-generated expert profiles appearing in media databases. SAG-AFTRA has separately issued a statement about Tilly Norwood.
The NBC segment does not establish a rule for how newsrooms should interview synthetic characters. What it does show is that an AI-generated subject can now occupy the same interview format as a human guest — leaving journalists to explain clearly to viewers what, exactly, they are watching.
