Trending Now - Anthropic Introduces ID Checks for Select Claude User Features

WHO:

Engadget - Anthropic is the company implementing identity verification for Claude users.

Engadget - Persona is the identity verification service provider, which also offers age verification services for OpenAI and Roblox.

Engadget - Founders Fund, co-founded by Peter Thiel, is a major investor in Persona.

WHAT:

Engadget - Anthropic has started rolling out identity verification for Claude “for a few use cases.”

Engadget - Users may be prompted to verify their identity by showing a valid government-issued photo ID and taking a live selfie.

Engadget - Anthropic stated that Persona will handle the IDs and selfies but will not copy or store those images.

Engadget - Anthropic emphasized that it will not use identity data to train its models or share it with others.

WHERE:

Engadget - The identity verification process is applicable to users of Claude, Anthropic's AI chatbot.

WHEN:

Techmeme - The identity verification requirements for Claude were quietly published by Anthropic during the week of April 10th, 2026.

WHY:

Engadget - Users are questioning the necessity of identity verification for accessing an AI chatbot, especially since Anthropic already has their credit card information as paying subscribers.

HOW:

Engadget - Users will need to present a government-issued photo ID and take a selfie with their phone or computer camera for verification.

Engadget - All data processed by Persona will be encrypted in transit and at rest, and Persona is contractually limited in how it can use user data.

(UPDATED April 16, 2026 13:23 UTC)

Anthropic has begun rolling out identity verification for its AI chatbot, Claude, requiring users to show a valid government-issued photo ID and take a live selfie for verification. The process, which was quietly announced during the week of on Friday, involves Persona, an identity verification service backed by investors like Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, to handle the data securely without storing images. While some users are questioning the need for this verification since they are already paying subscribers, Anthropic assures that any identity data will not be used to train its models or shared with others.