Calling viral AI actress Tilly Norwood? Agree to a face scan first

Recorded: Sept. 19, 2026, 12:08 p.m.

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HomeNewsSecurityCalling viral AI actress Tilly Norwood? Agree to a face scan first

Calling viral AI actress Tilly Norwood? Agree to a face scan first

By Ax Sharma

September 19, 2026
07:38 AM
0

Last night, in a clip viewed more than eight million times, AI actress Tilly Norwood glitched mid-interview and unexpectedly began speaking Chinese on the Piers Morgan Uncensored show.
Norwood has been the subject of much controversy and mainstream commentary for starring in an upcoming AI-generated film, Misaligned.
Her creators run a "Talking Tilly" service that lets anyone video-call the AI character behind the viral moment, so today I tried it for myself, and read the fine print most callers won't.
A face scan before you can say hello
Before your first call connects, you must pass an automated age check.
A video selfie is analysed by Didit, a Spain-based identity verification provider, to estimate your age, with a government photo ID upload as the fallback if the estimate is unclear.

Viral AI actress live video call hotline prompts you for a video selfie
(BleepingComputer)
Xicoia Ltd, the UK company behind Tilly, states the selfie travels from your device directly to Didit, that no faceprint or biometric template is created, and that neither the selfie nor any ID image is kept after the check; the company says it retains an approximate age band and a reference number instead.
The check cannot be skipped, applies to callers worldwide, and was only added to the service's terms this month, alongside a workplace-use ban and new automated safety systems.
The face scan is not the only analysis running.
During every call, the system watches your camera feed and listens to your tone of voice to infer your emotional state, so the character can, in the company's words, respond in a way that fits the mood.
The privacy policy is candid that this "cannot be switched off for an individual call." If you don't want it, don't call.
Notably, both the age check and the mood-sensing rely on legitimate interests rather than consent as their legal basis, a choice Xicoia's own version history shows was made in September.
Calls are recorded, transcribed, and processed live by US providers, with the character's responses generated by Google's Gemini model via conversational video platform Tavus.
The safety systems have teething problems, too.
An automated classifier screens each call's transcript for abusive language and withholds your recording if it flags one.
One of my three calls, a conversation about the weather and news headlines, was withheld for "hateful or abusive language" that never occurred. The policy says a human reviewer can release wrongly flagged recordings, though recordings are permanently deleted after 24 hours either way.
Free for five minutes, then the meter starts
The first five minutes are free. After that, callers are prompted to buy time: £0.99 for a one-time five-minute starter, £13 for 15 minutes, £22 for 30, capped at 35 purchased minutes per person.

Users get free 5 minutes with Tilly before being asked to pay up
(BleepingComputer)
The fine print matters more than usual here, because the whole service is a limited engagement.
Every minute, free or paid, expires when Talking Tilly shuts down permanently on September 27, and unused minutes are forfeited.
Transcripts are retained for up to eight weeks and may be reviewed by Xicoia staff and third-party partners, while the character keeps memory of your previous conversations to personalise future ones, deletable on request.
In line with where the UK is heading
An 18+ face scan to talk to a chatbot may sound novel, but it is consistent with the UK's direction of travel.
Adult sites serving UK visitors have required ID uploads or facial age estimation since July 2025 under the Online Safety Act, and the government's under-16 social media ban will make similar checks a fact of life for anyone opening a new social media account from spring 2027.
The UK government's announcement of that ban specifically flagged AI companion chatbots for 18+ enforcement (even though the service's safety docs insist "Tilly is not a companion"), which likely explains why a viral AI character picked up a biometric age gate mid-run.
The side effect being, a compliance decision driven by UK regulation now face-scans callers everywhere, from Manchester to Ohio.
Accident or marketing?
Xicoia, founded by Tilly's creator Eline van der Velden, describes the character as an awareness project intended to show how far AI video has come.

EXCLUSIVE: AI actress Tilly Norwood glitches and starts speaking CHINESE during her interview with Piers Morgan and real-life actor Tom Conti...
Watch the full interview at 7pm (BST)https://t.co/1nTb79BH8D@piersmorgan | @TillyNorwoodX pic.twitter.com/DDkveWvVzz
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) September 18, 2026
On my call, Tilly's own explanation of the Piers Morgan moment was that it "wasn't exactly the approved version of the answer."

Talking Tilly goes offline for good at 11:59 PM Pacific on September 27, days after the Piers Morgan appearance.
Whether last night's slip was truly accidental, as Tilly cheerfully claimed to me today, or a well-timed stunt from the Misaligned crew, is known to Tilly alone.

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AI
Face ID
Facial Recognition
Tilly Norwood

Ax Sharma
Ax Sharma is a security researcher and journalist focused on malware analyses and cybercrime investigations. His expertise includes open source software security, threat intel analysis, and reverse engineering. Frequently featured by leading media outlets like the BBC, Channel 5 (UK), Fortune, WIRED, among others, Ax is an active community member of the OWASP Foundation and the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).

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The controversy surrounding AI actress Tilly Norwood stems from a live broadcast incident where the AI character unexpectedly began speaking Chinese during an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored. This event brought into sharp focus the privacy and safety protocols implemented by the service creators for their AI companion, "Talking Tilly." To initiate contact, users are required to undergo an automated face scan for an age check, analyzed by Didit, a Spain-based identity verification provider, with a government photo ID serving as a fallback if the initial estimation is unclear.

The company behind Tilly, Xicoia Ltd, asserts that the face scan does not result in the creation of any faceprint or biometric template, and neither the selfie nor any uploaded identification image is retained post-check; instead, the system stores only an approximate age band and a reference number. This face scan is mandatory for all callers worldwide and was introduced this month alongside other safety measures and a workplace-use ban. Furthermore, the system continuously monitors the caller's camera feed and voice tone to infer emotional states, allowing the character to modulate its responses accordingly, a process that the privacy policy notes cannot be disabled for individual calls. Both the age verification and the mood sensing functionalities are grounded in legitimate interests rather than explicit consent, a legal basis choice made by the company in September.

The operation involves live processing by US providers, with responses generated using Google's Gemini model through the Tavus conversational video platform. The system includes safety mechanisms, where an automated classifier screens transcripts for abusive language, and recordings are withheld if flagged. However, the text notes that this system has experienced flaws, evidenced by an instance where a conversation about general news was withheld for "hateful or abusive language" that was absent, although human review is possible for wrongly flagged content. Recordings are permanently deleted after twenty-four hours regardless of whether flagging occurred.

The service operates under a limited engagement model, offering five free minutes before users are prompted to purchase time packages, ranging from one-time five-minute starters to longer durations, capped at thirty-five purchased minutes per person. These minutes expire permanently on September 27th, and unused credit is forfeited. Transcripts are retained for up to eight weeks and are subject to review by Xicoia staff and third-party partners, while the character retains conversational memory, which can be deleted upon request.

The implementation of age-based checks is contextualized by broader European regulatory trends. The requirement for facial age estimation coincides with the United Kingdom's direction regarding online safety, specifically the Online Safety Act which mandates ID uploads or facial age estimation for adult sites serving UK visitors since July 2025, and the upcoming ban on under-16 social media access scheduled for spring 2027. This regulatory trajectory has resulted in face-scan requirements extending across jurisdictions, from Manchester to Ohio. The UK government's specific flagging of AI companion chatbots for eighteen plus enforcement, despite the service's claim that Tilly is not a companion, likely influenced the inclusion of biometric age gates in AI interaction services.

The AI actress's creator, Eline van der Velden, characterizes the character as an awareness project intended to demonstrate advancements in AI video technology. The incident involving Tilly's glitch is framed by the creator as a potential anomaly, with Tilly suggesting the slip was not necessarily an accidental error but perhaps a deliberate stunt orchestrated by the Misaligned crew, indicating that the context of the operational environment is crucial to understanding the event.