Talking to the press at the New York premiere of his sci-fi thriller “Mercy” on January 20, 2026, Chris Pratt was quite open about the rising chatter about actors created by AI. The irony was not lost on Pratt, whose new movie is about a world in which artificial intelligence controls the justice system.
“I don’t feel like someone’s gonna replace me that’s AI,” Pratt said. “I heard this Tilly Norwood thing, I think that’s all bull—. I’ve never seen her in a movie. I don’t know who this b— is. It’s all fake until it’s something.”
His response to this latest scandal involves Tilly Norwood, an “actress” who was created through AI, developed by Eline Van der Velden’s company, Xicoia. Norwood made headlines towards the end of 2025 when it was reported that some of the top talent agencies in Hollywood were keen on signing the AI “actress” to their agency, fearing that robots would replace human actors.
Lacks the fundamental ingredient
These have already been expressed by SAG-AFTRA, which has disapproved of the use of AI actors by saying that these entities devalue the importance of human artistic expression, while they also learn from existing acting without permission or compensation. Pratt’s reaction to this trend was also appropriate.
However, he did not entirely reject artificial intelligence. Instead, he introduced artificial intelligence in a manner that is disruptive yet lacks one ingredient to produce art.
Pratt did admit that AI would “inevitably disrupt” the movie industry, but he added that the present situation is no different in kind from when other technologies were introduced in the industry and sparked fear before being integrated into the process of making a movie. The greatest directors would continue to make great movies using AI technology to optimize the movie-making process, but would not replace the essence of what is being performed by the actor.
The reactions have been due to Pratt’s continued advertising of “Mercy,” which is set to come out in theaters on January 23, 2026. Mercy, which is directed by Timur Bekmambetov and stars Chris Pratt as a man who must convince an AI-run justice system of his innocence within 90 minutes of being set to be executed, also features Rebecca Ferguson as the voice of the AI judge.
As he joked in a post-screening Q&A session, he asked for Bekmambetov to strap him into the execution chair for prolonged periods of shooting in order to better understand what it is like to be in a world where technology has gotten out of control.
