Tilly Norwood’s AI video-call service requires facial age checks worldwide

Talking Tilly, a service for video calls with the AI character Tilly Norwood, requires users worldwide to pass a facial age check before their first call. The requirement was added to the service's terms this month. Identity provider Didit estimates age from a video selfie and requests government photo ID if the result is unclear. Xicoia, the company behind Tilly, says the images are deleted after the check and it retains only an age band and reference number. Calls are recorded and transcribed. The service also analyzes camera and voice input to infer a caller's emotional state, a feature that cannot be disabled for individual calls.