Claude now wants your passport: Here's what Anthropic does with it

Anthropic has begun asking some Claude users to submit a government-issued photo ID and, in some cases, a live selfie before accessing certain features on its platform. 

The move, confirmed by the company via a Claude Support post, positions Anthropic as one of the first major consumer AI providers to introduce formal identity verification as a gating mechanism for platform capabilities.

What Claude is actually asking users to provide?

The verification process is handled through Persona Identities, a third-party identity infrastructure provider. Users may be prompted to submit a valid government-issued ID, a passport, a driver's licence, a national identity card, or a state ID accompanied by a live selfie captured via phone or webcam. The entire process, Anthropic says, typically takes under five minutes.

The list of what won't be accepted is notably long: photocopies, screenshots, digital IDs, student cards, employee badges, bank cards, and temporary paper IDs are all excluded. Only physical, photo-bearing government documents from most countries will pass.

The data movement process at Anthropic has been revealed through their direct statements. Anthropic can access verification records without reservation because the records exist on Persona's system. The company states that it only uses images for its operational needs without creating additional copies of the content.

The data Anthropic collects will not become part of its AI model training according to Anthropic's official statement. "Verification data is used solely to confirm who you are and to meet our legal and safety obligations," the company said. The organisation stated that it will not share data with third parties except for verification purposes and legal compliance purposes.

The company frames the requirement as a platform integrity measure rather than a product feature. "Being responsible with powerful technology starts with knowing who is using it," the Claude Support post stated, citing abuse prevention, usage policy enforcement, and legal obligations as the primary drivers.

The verification prompt will not appear for all users across all features. Anthropic describes it as applying to "certain capabilities" and appearing during "routine platform integrity checks". Which specific features trigger the requirement has not been publicly detailed.