Equity pushes AI contract protections as Tilly Norwood turns one

UK performers' union Equity used the approaching first anniversary of the synthetic performer Tilly Norwood to call for AI protections in film and TV contracts and for a new legal right over everyone's voice and likeness, in a statement published on September 25, 2026. Tilly Norwood was launched at the Zurich Film Festival on September 27, 2025, a date the union uses as the peg.

The commitment with teeth is contractual. General secretary Paul W Fleming said Equity's collective agreements are "incredibly powerful vehicles to embed minimum standards," and that the union "will ensure that contracts for film and TV work in the UK include mandatory protections regarding AI, ensuring the permission and payment of performers for their voice or likeness is central."

Alongside that, Equity is asking for a statutory right. Personality rights over voice and likeness would, in its framing, give everyone control over their identity, add a layer of protection against exploitation by AI models trained without consent, and prevent malicious use of digital replicas to undermine democratic processes. Fleming said "unauthorised, malicious, and sexualised generative AI digital replicas are a threat to our democracy, decency and wellbeing" and urged the UK government to legislate.

The union's list of what it wants in film and TV contracts covers transparency, consent and pay, plus an industry commitment to "strongly prefer human performance." It also calls on casting platforms to reject AI use that reduces artists' work, and on producers to commit to human performance, arguing that collective action can make AI "serve the creative workforce rather than the other way round."

Two caveats keep this in proportion. Equity says it is "close to securing the first ever automatic AI protections for film and TV performers," and close is not a signed agreement: the statement names its counterparty as Pact, the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television, and says talks are at an advanced stage, but it gives no date for the terms landing and carries no comment from Pact. And the union's position exists in a country whose government has not legislated personality rights; the ask is a campaign, not a law.

The context is a year of union pressure on both sides of the Atlantic. SAG-AFTRA said in September 2025 that Tilly Norwood is not an actor and was trained on professional performers' work without permission or compensation, as Forbes reported. Under its 2026 TV/Theatrical Agreement, producers may not use synthetics without first bargaining with the union, on a strict notice-and-bargaining schedule, and agree to a principle strongly favoring human performances. The terms Equity describes for the UK cover similar ground, down to the commitment to strongly prefer human performance.

For creators, the practical read is that the paperwork is coming into the pipeline: if you are a UK producer, or a studio buying AI-assisted performance in the UK, the AI clause and the consent trail are set to become a line item rather than a judgement call if the Pact terms are agreed.

The next thing to watch is whether Equity and Pact sign the terms and publish the clause text; the anniversary statement sets the position, not the timetable.