Character AI age verification rollout currently restricted to US

Character AI’s new age verification system has started appearing for some users, but there’s a catch that many international users are discovering: the feature is only available in the United States right now. If you’re outside the US and wondering why you haven’t seen any verification prompts, that’s exactly why.

The company confirmed in a recent support document that users outside America won’t encounter the age assurance pop-up at all. For now, only US-based accounts are being asked to go through the verification process, which uses a third-party service called Persona. The system checks various signals like login information and platform activity to guess a user’s age without requiring immediate action.

This geographic restriction explains the confusion on Reddit, where international users have been posting about not seeing any verification prompts despite the widespread rollout announcements.

One user from Brazil noted their app was working normally without any age-related interruptions, which sparked a thread where people from New Zealand, Canada, and other countries confirmed the same experience.

Character AI previously announced that age verification would become mandatory for minors, introducing separate experiences for users under 18 and those above. The system works by analyzing account data first. If it determines you’re 18 or older, you won’t need to do anything. But if the system flags your account as potentially underage and you disagree, you can verify through a selfie. Only in cases where the selfie verification fails would Persona ask for an ID upload, and Character AI says they never see those IDs.

Even within the US, the rollout is happening gradually. Some adult users report never seeing the verification prompt, which likely means the system already considers them verified based on existing account signals. Others have found the verification option buried in Settings under Advanced, though it doesn’t appear for everyone yet.

The platform has also been dealing with a problem where adult users were incorrectly flagged as minors, with no option to verify themselves with an ID. Character AI says users can submit support tickets if they believe they’ve been placed in the wrong age bracket.

There’s no timeline yet for when age verification will expand beyond the US. The company only mentions that the feature is “not available yet” for international users and that they “don’t need to take any action at the moment.” Until then, the age assurance system remains an exclusively American experience.