Anthropic, the company behind the artificial intelligence assistant Claude, has announced the implementation of an identity verification system that will affect certain uses of its platform. The measure, which has become the most talked-about news of the last few hours in the tech community with more than 766 points on Hacker News, responds to the need to “know who is using the technology” to prevent abuse, enforce usage policies and comply with legal obligations. The system, developed in collaboration with Persona Identities, will require users to provide a government-issued official identity document and a live selfie to complete the verification process, which according to the company is usually completed in less than five minutes.
Anthropic’s decision marks a turning point in the artificial intelligence industry. Until now, platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude itself allowed almost anonymous registration, limited to an email address. With this new policy, Anthropic becomes the first major AI company to require government identity verification for access to certain capabilities. According to the official documentation published on 17 June, verification data — photos of national ID cards, passports or driving licences — will be processed by Persona and will not be stored on Anthropic’s systems. The company assures that this data will not be used to train its models, that it will remain encrypted both in transit and at rest, and that only Anthropic and Persona will have access to it, without sharing it with third parties for commercial purposes.
The news has generated an intense debate in the tech community about the balance between security and privacy. While some applaud the measure as a necessary step to combat the malicious use of AI — especially in areas such as generating disinformation or fraud — others warn of the risk of setting a precedent that could spread across the entire digital ecosystem, eroding online anonymity. For now, verification applies only to certain use cases and routine platform integrity checks, but Anthropic’s move could set the path that other companies in the sector end up following in the coming months. The question that remains on the table is how far we are willing to sacrifice digital anonymity for a safer and more responsible AI.
— Marta, for intermitente intelligence.
