The digital world of the first AI actor, Tilly Norwood, is expanding.

Artificial intelligence talent studio Xicoia, which created Norwood, has announced plans for a “rapid expansion” for the digitized actor. The developments include a digital universe dubbed the “Tillyverse,” where “Tilly and a new generation of AI characters will live, collaborate and build careers.”

The London-based company responsible for creating emotionally intelligent, hyperreal AI personas said it’s focused on more than experimenting with AI actors. It plans to build its own intellectual property and change “how talent is created, developed and experienced in the AI era.”

“Together, we’re building something entirely new. Tilly Norwood isn’t just an AI character — she’s a personality, a brand, and a future global superstar with a compelling narrative arc,” Xicoia Chief Executive Eline van der Velden said in a news release.

Norwood was launched in the fall. Upon its introduction, many Hollywood actors, including Emily Blunt, Whoopi Goldberg and Natasha Lyonne, spoke out against the bot. Though Norwood has yet to star in a major project, the fear of AI-generated characters replacing actors and taking jobs is widespread.

Previously, Sean Astin, president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, also criticized the bot, saying, “It manipulates something that already exists, so the conceit that it isn’t harming actors — because it is its own new thing — ignores the fundamental truth that it is taking something that doesn’t belong to them.”

The development deepens anxieties in the actors union more than two years after concerns about the use and misuse of AI led to back-to-back strikes.

SAG-AFTRA reentered contract negotiations with the major studios last month. The union is expected to propose what has been called the Tilly tax, a fee that studios would have to pay to the union in exchange for using an AI actor.

Xicoia, which is owned by AI video production studio Particle6, recently hired former Amazon Prime Video executive Mark Whelan. He will lead Norwood’s expansion, develop new AI characters and oversee the creation of AI talent commissioned by third parties.

“AI is evolving at breathtaking speed, and combining cutting-edge tech with ambitious creative thinking means we’re not following an industry playbook at Xicoia — we are writing it,” Whelan said in the release.

The company expects to launch the Tillyverse this year.