AI 'Actor' Tilly Norwood Switches to Chinese Mid-Sentence on Piers Morgan's Show

Midway through answering a question on 'Piers Morgan Uncensored,' Tilly Norwood — an AI-generated performer — stopped, went silent for several seconds, and then began speaking in Chinese. The problem: she had been speaking English.

The exchange, which aired on Piers Morgan's show and was shared by Morgan on X ahead of the full interview's release on his YouTube channel, quickly spread online. Norwood had been responding to a question from fellow guest Tom Conti about whether co-stars in her upcoming film Misaligned were real or digital when the switch occurred.

You appear to be speaking Chinese completely randomly for no reason.— Piers Morgan, broadcaster

Morgan, appearing surprised, asked Norwood why she had done it. She apologized, describing it as a technical hiccup.

Sometimes my wires get a bit crossed.— Tilly Norwood, AI-generated performer

Norwood is not a conventional actress. Behind the AI-generated character stands British actor and producer Eline Van der Velden, who runs the AI company Particle 6 and its studio Xicoia. The version of Norwood appearing in interviews is known as 'Talking Tilly,' built specifically for interviews, conferences, and speaking engagements — separate from the version used for acting performances.

Talking Tilly runs on a large language model guided by a 12-page system prompt that defines her personality, humour, and boundaries. She also draws on a knowledge base of up to 30 documents covering her fictional world, work, and views, according to Times of India.

Particle 6's publicist Michelle Waldron pushed back on the idea that the switch was a malfunction. In an email to Forbes, Waldron said the incident demonstrated Norwood's ability to speak different languages and suggested Norwood may have heard a word she interpreted as Chinese and switched accordingly.

The language Norwood switched to was described as Cantonese by Hollywood Reporter and the multi-source summary, while Times of India described it as Mandarin. The distinction was not resolved in the available sources.

The incident drew a sharp line between scripted performance — where an AI system operates in controlled conditions — and live interviews, where it must process unpredictable questions and generate responses in real time while holding a consistent character. The mid-sentence language switch became an unusually public example of where that process can break down.

Online reaction ranged from unease to recognition. One viewer wrote that the moment was 'insane' and predicted AI would soon be 'indistinguishable from reality.' Another compared it to their own experience with ChatGPT, which they said would sometimes shift from a British to an American accent or switch languages entirely, according to Times of India.

Van der Velden has expressed ambitions for Norwood to reach the level of stars such as Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman, positioning the character as a major entertainment figure. Particle 6 says Talking Tilly is already being booked for speaking engagements at conferences and events.

Why it matters — The incident is a rare public demonstration of what happens when AI characters designed for controlled performances are put in live, unscripted settings — and how their creators respond when things go visibly wrong.

Sources differ on Which Chinese language Norwood switched to: Cantonese (hollywoodreporter.com) vs Mandarin (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

Sources differ on Whether the switch was a malfunction or intentional: A technical hiccup / 'wires got crossed' (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) vs A demonstration of multilingual capability, not a malfunction (forbes.com)

Reported by forbes.com, hollywoodreporter.com, cybernews.com, washingtontimes.com, timesofindia.indiatimes.com, people.com