Every morning on the way to work, there she is, Tilly Norwood, on my bus. Sitting by the window, minding her own business, probably wondering why humans keep arguing about her existence.
Apparently, Tilly Norwood is destroying Hollywood, bankrupting actors, and single-handedly dooming the arts… yet somehow, she still manages to catch the 8:15 bus into town most mornings with me. Honestly, the most threatening thing about her so far is that she keeps hogging the window seats and won’t make eye contact when I nod hello. This morning though the gods and Tilly noticed Gramepa and my Ray-Ban Meta’s captured that perfect virtual smile aimed right at me. This old man blushed like a raspberry.
Let’s be real: if an AI character sipping an imaginary latte on public transport has you shaking in fear for the future of cinema, maybe the problem isn’t Tilly. Maybe it’s you. Actors survived sound, survived CGI, survived Nicolas Cage’s entire career — they’ll survive Tilly too. Until then, I’ll keep riding shotgun with my pixelated bus buddy hoping one day she will lean over me and my Steam Deck and say; “Hey, I play that too!”.