Home / Technology / Anthropic Verifies Users for AI Access
Anthropic Verifies Users for AI Access
16 Apr
Summary
- Anthropic now requires government ID and selfies for some Claude capabilities.
- Users criticize mandatory verification, questioning data privacy concerns.
- The verification is handled by Persona, linked to Peter Thiel's investments.
Anthropic has begun implementing identity verification for a select few functionalities within its Claude AI chatbot. Users may encounter prompts requiring them to confirm their identity by presenting a physical government-issued photo ID and submitting a selfie, which will be compared against the provided identification. This new policy has generated significant user backlash, with many questioning the need for identity checks when they are already paying subscribers and their financial details are known.
Concerns are amplified by Anthropic's choice of Persona, a company also providing age verification for services like OpenAI and Roblox. Persona is backed by Founders Fund, a venture firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, who also co-chairs the surveillance technology company Palantir. Palantir's work with U.S. federal agencies like the FBI and CIA has frequently faced scrutiny over its use of AI and facial recognition for surveillance.
Anthropic has assured users that Persona will handle ID and selfie data without copying or storing the images, and that data will be encrypted. The company stated that Persona is contractually limited in its data usage, and crucially, Anthropic will not use this identity data for model training or share it with any third parties, aiming to alleviate privacy fears.
