Hollywood’s controversial AI-generated “actress” Tilly Norwood had an awkward moment during a high-profile interview when she suddenly stopped speaking English and began talking in Cantonese.
The bizarre switch happened during a Sept. 18 appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, where Norwood was interviewed alongside veteran actor Tom Conti about her upcoming movie, Misaligned.
Conti had been pressing the computer-generated character about whether the performers appearing alongside her in the movie were real people or AI creations.
Norwood initially described Misaligned as a “hybrid production,” explaining that human directors, writers and editors were involved.
But Conti pointed out that she had not actually answered his question.
When he asked again whether the actors seen on screen with her were human, Norwood said they were “all digital twins” like herself.
Then things got strange.
In the middle of her answer, Norwood suddenly switched from English to Cantonese and continued speaking for several seconds.
The unexpected moment immediately caught Conti and Morgan off guard.
“I didn’t quite get that,” Conti said as Morgan began laughing.
Morgan then asked Norwood why she had apparently started speaking another language “completely randomly.”
Norwood quickly returned to English and apologized, describing the incident as a “little hiccup.”
She added that her “wires get a bit crossed” from time to time, although she insisted such episodes were rare.
The original clip was posted by Piers Morgan Uncensored on X and quickly racked up millions of views.
EXCLUSIVE: AI actress Tilly Norwood glitches and starts speaking CHINESE during her interview with Piers Morgan and real-life actor Tom Conti… Watch the full interview at 7pm (BST)👇 📺 https://t.co/1nTb79BH8D @piersmorgan | @TillyNorwoodX https://t.co/DDkveWvVzz
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) September 18, 2026
The full Piers Morgan Uncensored episode also identifies the moment at roughly 10 minutes and 50 seconds into the program as Norwood accidentally beginning to speak Cantonese.
Norwood’s account later leaned into the mishap, joking that anyone capable of speaking more than 30 languages might occasionally want to show off.
Her creator, Particle6 founder Eline van der Velden, also suggested publicly that the switch may have been connected to Norwood’s multilingual abilities rather than a simple technical failure.
However, the interview does not establish exactly why the AI switched languages, meaning descriptions of the moment as a “glitch” remain an interpretation rather than a confirmed technical diagnosis.
The timing could hardly have been more awkward.
Norwood has become one of the most visible symbols of Hollywood’s growing debate over artificial intelligence and synthetic performers.
The character was created by London-based production company Particle6 and its AI talent division Xicoia. Norwood first drew widespread attention in 2025, when her creators began promoting her as a potential AI movie performer.
That immediately triggered fierce criticism from SAG-AFTRA.
The performers union said in a September 2025 statement that Norwood “is not an actor,” but rather a computer-generated character. SAG-AFTRA also argued that synthetic performers raise serious questions about consent, compensation and the use of work created by human actors to train AI systems.
The union further reminded studios signed to its contracts that the use of synthetic performers can trigger notice and bargaining obligations.
Norwood is now preparing for her feature-film debut in Misaligned, a comedy-drama being developed by Particle6.
The studio announced the project in July, describing it as a coming-of-age story built around AI and human identity. The movie remains in development and, as of September, no public release date has been announced.
That makes Norwood’s current press tour unusual in its own right.
Instead of a human performer giving rehearsed interviews about an upcoming movie, journalists are effectively questioning an interactive AI character in real time.
TechCrunch reported that Particle6 made Norwood available for dozens of simultaneous media interviews, creating opportunities for unpredictable answers that would be far less likely during a carefully edited film performance.
The Cantonese switch offered a striking example of that problem.
Whether it was a genuine technical error, an unintended language change or simply Norwood showing off one of her programmed abilities, the viral exchange exposed one of the challenges facing companies trying to turn AI characters into believable entertainment personalities.
Hollywood may still be debating whether synthetic performers belong on the big screen.
For a few seconds on Piers Morgan’s show, however, the technology provided an unexpectedly convincing reminder that it can still behave in ways even its interviewers do not see coming.
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