By Faye James

Copyright hellomagazine

While Al Roker has shown no indication of his plans to retire, his Today co-star, Savannah Guthrie, already has a replacement in mind for the veteran weatherman when he decides to hang up his hat. On Tuesday, the team discussed the rise of Artificial Intelligence in Hollywood, particularly the introduction of the controversial AI actress Tilly Norwood. Savannah then quipped that while the 71-year-old was the weatherman “for now”, the rise of AI could see his job taken over by someone like Tilly in the coming years.

Al has been a key part of the Today team since joining in 1996, and has shared his plans to remain at the morning show desk for as long as possible in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. He explained that he was “even more passionate” about his gig than when he first started almost thirty years earlier.

“Here’s the deal: my dad drove a bus for eight hours a day. And then he moved into management with [the] transit authority,” he explained. “And when he said it was no longer fun, he retired at the age of 55. I cannot tell you how much I look forward to [hosting Today]. Every day is a different day, and our audience who comes down to the Today show, our crew, our producers, how do you give up something like this?”

Al added that he would keep turning up until “the wheels fall off.” He also spoke to People about his eventual exit from the show, after Hoda Kotb stepped away from the desk in January 2025 to be more present in her children’s lives. “You know when you know,” he said. “That was kind of the beautiful thing for Hoda. You even look at…Joe Biden.”

“It’s like, everybody has a reason that they decide it’s time to go,” he continued, adding that while his “time will come,” he wasn’t quite ready yet. “Who knows. Maybe a year or two. Maybe not, but I’m enjoying it. I love this. You don’t get off the train until the last stop.”

The team’s discussion on AI was sparked by the reveal of AI actress Tilly Norwood, who was created by Dutch actress and comedian Eline Van der Velden, the CEO of AI production studio Particle6. Everyone from A-listers to film fans have weighed in on Tilly’s existence in the entertainment industry, including Emily Blunt, who expressed her fears on the Variety Awards Circuit podcast.

“Does it disappoint me? I don’t know how to quite answer it, other than to say how terrifying this is…Please stop taking away our human connection,” she implored. The use of AI has become a flashpoint in recent years, particularly in Hollywood, with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023 calling for protection against people’s voices and images being replicated by AI without their consent.

Eline released a statement following the backlash against her AI character, sharing that it was not her intention for Tilly to replace real actors. “To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work – a piece of art. Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity,” she wrote.

“I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush. Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I’m an actor myself, and nothing – certainly not an AI character – can take away the craft or joy of human performance.”