AI Actor Flops, AI Layoff Tracker Launches, Altman Prices Intelligence, Film Grant Targets Tech, & Writers Revolt Over Grammarly AI
MAN AND ROBOTS: Weekly signals on how AI and automation are reshaping work & creativity.
March 13, 2026
🤖 AI Wanna-Be Hollywood Actor Flops
1. In the middle of SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations with Hollywood film and TV studios (via AMPTP), the UK-based company behind the controversial “AI actor” Tilly Norwood released an AI music video to show off how the digital avatar works. Before the video starts, the company behind the avatar, Particle6, flashes a message on screen seemingly meant to allay the fears of entertainment industry workers worried that AI will take their jobs. “The following production was made by 18 real humans — from production designers to costume designers to prompters, editors, and an actor.”
Reality Check: We covered the video the day it dropped, but there’s an update regarding how the video was received. After two days on YouTube and 113,000 views, the video now has 767 Likes and 3,300 Dislikes. In line with the ratio of Likes and Dislikes, the nearly 1,500 comments under the video are mostly negative. “Even in a world where modern music lacks soul and artistry, and they use voice correction, autotune, and synthesized beats instead of genuine musicians playing instruments, despite all of that, this is still worse. Whoever thought this was ‘it’ should be fired,” read one comment. “At least Skynet was honest about trying to erase humanity,” read another.
💰 How to Track the AI Jobpocalypse
2. This week, a group called The Alliance for Secure AI launched JobLoss.ai, a website that tracks all the jobs that have been erased due to what some companies are calling “AI efficiencies.” Each layoff listing is ranked as Explicit (the company declared layoffs were related to AI), Blamed (at least one source listed AI as the cause, even if the company did not), and Mixed (AI is “cited alongside other material factors,” but not the leading cause of layoffs).
Why It Matters Now: The launch of the resource came just after Twitter founder and Block (Cash App) CEO Jack Dorsey announced that he was laying off 40% of the company (~4,000) due in part to AI efficiencies. Although some didn’t accept Dorsey’s reasoning, the shift has led to a debate around whether companies are “AI washing” (erroneously blaming layoffs on AI as a convenient excuse) or if AI is indeed laying waste to the white-collar working world. The JobLoss.ai site could serve as a handy way to track reality versus speculation.
