KYC

KYC is a process that checks "who this person really is" before they can use a service. It's the same idea as showing your ID at a bank to open a new account, just brought over to online services.

In AI services, this process sometimes gets used for a slightly different reason. It can be used to screen out users from certain countries or regions, or to stop one person from creating multiple accounts to repeatedly claim free benefits. That's why it's often strengthened by requiring both a photo ID and a live selfie taken in real time, checking whether the photo actually matches the person's face.

But this door isn't airtight either. There are real cases of people getting around it — making fake IDs, using fake face videos instead of a real selfie, or even having someone else stand in for the verification. The higher the bar for identity verification gets, the bigger the workaround industry that grows to clear that bar.

According to the article, Anthropic introduced "KYC-style identity verification" — requiring an ID and a live selfie — for users in China, but infrastructure for bypassing it with fake IDs and deepfake selfies appeared almost immediately. One easy point of confusion: KYC isn't some special technology Anthropic invented — it's the general name for an identity-verification procedure long used in banking and other financial industries.