Anthropic rolls out identity verification on Claude

Anthropic has begun rolling out identity and business verification for a limited set of Claude use cases, according to a help-centre article on the company’s support site. Users may see a verification prompt when accessing certain capabilities, as part of routine platform integrity checks, or as part of other safety and compliance measures. The stated aim is to prevent abuse, enforce usage policies and comply with legal obligations; Anthropic says the data is used only to confirm who someone is.

How the verification works

Anthropic picked Persona Identities as its verification partner, citing the strength of that vendor’s technology, privacy controls and security safeguards. Individuals need a valid government-issued photo ID — the physical document, in hand — plus a phone with a camera, since they may be asked to take a live selfie. Anyone verifying on behalf of an organisation must also provide identifying details such as the legal name, address and business registration number.

Accepted documents are original, physical, government-issued photo IDs from most countries: passports, driver’s licences or state and provincial ID cards, and national identity cards. An ID must be government-issued, clearly legible, undamaged, unexpired and carry a photo of the holder. Photocopies, screenshots, scans and photos of a photo are rejected, as are digital or mobile IDs such as mobile driver’s licences, non-government cards including student IDs, employee badges, library cards and bank cards, and temporary paper IDs.

Data handling and limits

Anthropic describes itself as the data controller for verification data, setting the rules for how it is used and how long it is kept, while fraud-prevention partners are contractually limited to verification and fraud prevention and to industry-standard security controls. The ID and selfie are collected and held by Persona, not on Anthropic’s systems; Anthropic can reach verification records through Persona’s platform when needed, for instance to review an appeal, but does not copy or store the images itself, and data passing to and through Persona is encrypted in transit and at rest. The company says it does not use identity data to train its models, asks only for the minimum information needed to verify an identity, and shares verification data with nobody beyond the user, Anthropic and its fraud-prevention partners — except where legally required to answer valid legal processes, and never for marketing or advertising.

If verification fails

A check can fail because of a blurry photo, an unreadable document, an expired ID, an incorrect registration number or a technical problem. Anthropic advises trying again — the flow allows several attempts, and most failures are resolved by retaking the photo in better lighting or using a different government-issued ID — checking that the document is undamaged and legible, and, if the attempts run out, contacting support through its help form.