did anthropic see the fable 5 ban coming?

weeks before the model ever shipped, it quietly started adding id verification to claude's privacy policy: a government photo id, a live selfie, a facial geometry scan. it takes effect july 8, across free, pro and max

the checks will run through persona – a vendor backed by peter thiel's founders fund. thiel also happens to be an anthropic investor

here's why it matters: the whole reason fable 5 went dark for the entire planet was that anthropic couldn't tell a us citizen from a foreign national at api scale. id verification is exactly the kind of tool you'd need to comply with a nationality-based ban – gating access to us-only without the directive ever being lifted. anthropic hasn't said that's the plan. but the gap is real, and so is the tool

hopefully this stays a plan b – and the rest of the world still gets a shot at mythos-class models again