Anthropic has begun asking some Claude users to verify their identity with a government-issued photo ID and a live selfie, with the checks handled by identity-verification vendor Persona. The company says the step is meant to prevent abuse, enforce its usage policies, and meet legal obligations, and that users may be prompted when accessing certain capabilities or during routine platform-integrity checks.
The flow is built around a document and a face. Users are asked for an original, physical government photo ID, such as a passport, driver’s license, or national identity card, and may be asked to take a live selfie using a phone or webcam, a process the company says typically takes under five minutes. Notably for a digital identity check, the system does not accept digital or mobile IDs, including mobile driver’s licenses, nor photocopies, screenshots, or scans, requiring the physical document instead.
Anthropic describes itself as the data controller for the verification data, with Persona processing it on the company’s behalf. The ID and selfie are collected and held by Persona rather than on Anthropic’s systems, the data is not used to train models, and it is encrypted in transit and at rest. The arrangement places facial data at the center of the check, and Anthropic’s privacy policy now spells out what verification can capture: an image of the identity document and its details, the user’s image in photo or video form, and “facial geometry templates (which may be considered ‘biometric data’ in some jurisdictions),” with consent cited as a legal basis where biometric data is involved.
The move adds a major AI provider to the list of platforms leaning on third-party identity and age checks. Persona’s role has drawn scrutiny before, when an exposed Persona frontend revealed the biometric stack behind age verification, and AI services have been adopting the vendor for related checks, as when ChatGPT rolled out under-18 detection offering Persona age checks.
Anthropic says verification data stays between the user, Persona, and Anthropic, and is not shared with third parties for marketing or advertising.
Sources: Anthropic
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
