Viral AI actress Tilly Norwood's 'Talking Tilly' hotline face-scans callers for age checks and mood sensing before shutting down September 27

Xicoia Ltd's Talking Tilly video hotline requires every caller to pass a Didit video-selfie age check (18+) with government ID fallback, and continuously analyzes callers' faces and voice tone to infer mood — both under 'legitimate interests' rather than…

Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated actress that went viral after glitching into Chinese during a Piers Morgan Uncensored appearance, is the face of 'Talking Tilly', a video call service run by UK company Xicoia Ltd. BleepingComputer tested the service and reviewed its fine print. Before connecting a call, every caller must complete a video-selfie age check for 18+ verification run by Spain-based identity provider Didit, with a government ID upload as fallback; Xicoia says no faceprint or biometric template is stored. During calls, the system continuously analyzes the caller's camera feed and voice tone to infer emotional state, and this mood sensing cannot be disabled per call. Responses are generated with Google's Gemini via the Tavus conversational video platform, while calls are recorded, transcribed, and processed live by US providers, with transcripts retained up to eight weeks. Both the age check and mood sensing rely on 'legitimate interests' rather than consent, per a September policy change — an approach Xicoia ties to UK Online Safety Act age-verification requirements and the upcoming under-16 social media ban. The service will permanently shut down on September 27, 2026.

• 'Talking Tilly' is operated by Xicoia Ltd, the UK company behind AI character Tilly Norwood, who went viral after glitching into Chinese during a Piers Morgan Uncensored appearance.
• Every caller must pass a video-selfie age check for 18+ verification run by Spain-based identity provider Didit, with a government ID upload as fallback; Xicoia says no faceprint or biometric template is stored.
• During calls, the caller's camera feed and voice tone are continuously analyzed to infer emotional state; the mood sensing cannot be disabled per call.
• Responses are generated with Google's Gemini via the Tavus conversational video platform; calls are recorded, transcribed, and processed live by US providers, with transcripts retained up to eight weeks.
• Both the age check and mood sensing rely on 'legitimate interests' rather than consent, per a September policy change; Xicoia links the approach to UK Online Safety Act age-verification requirements and the upcoming under-16 social media…
• BleepingComputer tested the service and reviewed its fine print.
• The service will permanently shut down on September 27, 2026.