The creator of the AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood, Eline Van Der Velden, has been under scrutiny recently after it was discovered that her company, Particle6, received a grant from the British Film Institute’s (BFI) UK Global Screen Fund. Actress and host of the 98% Podcast, Alexa Morden, discovered the grant and shared it in an Instagram post, saying in the description that she was alarmed to see that the BFI could be utilizing “public funding to support creation of technology that literally replaces creatives.”

In response, Eline Van der Velden provided some clarification in a statement to Deadline, stressing that while Particle6 was funded with a grant from the BFI received in November 2023, the money was used for unrelated business purposes, and that Tilly Norwood’s creation was not funded with that BFI grant. Van Der Velden further explained that Norwood’s creation was funded and developed by Xicoia, a separate company that shares a service agreement with Particle6, but that the funding for Norwood’s creation came not from Particle6, but from her personal investment in the company.

Much of the need for this clarification stems from the already extreme industry backlash over Tilly Norwood’s creation. Many acting unions, such as SAG-AFTRA and the UK acting union Equity, have produced statements condemning Tilly Norwood’s creation, arguing that acting should remain human-centered. Many actors have also issued separate statements with similar sentiments, including actress Betty Gilpin, who wrote an open letter expressing her strong disdain for Norwood’s creation.