D-ID Review — From Face De-Identification to Expressive Real-Time AI Avatars and Agentic Video

D-ID started as a GDPR privacy tool and pivoted into one of AI video's most interesting platform plays: V4 Expressive real-time avatars, the September 2025 acquisition of simpleshow (~$60M, 500+ Fortune 1000 customers), and a novel Agentic Videos product that embeds a conversational AI agent inside a video player. This review covers the full arc — the origins, the model stack, the products, the pricing, and where D-ID stands against HeyGen, Synthesia, and Tavus.