Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Claude Code

Hi everyone! Boris from the Claude Code team here. @eschluntz, @catherinewu, @wolffiex, @bdr and I will be around for the next hour or so and we'll do our best to answer your questions about the product.

I really want to try your AI models, but "You must have a valid phone number to use Anthropic's services." is a show-stopper for me.

It's the only mainstream AI service that requests this information. After a string of security lapses by many of your competitors, I have zero faith in the ability of a "fast moving" AI-focused company to keep my PII data secure.

It's a phone number. It's probably been bought / sold a few times already. Unless you're on the level of Edward Snowden, I wouldn't worry about it. But maybe your sense of privacy is more valuable than the outcome you'd get from Claude. That's fine too.

It's my phone number... linked to my Google identity... linked to every submitted user prompt... linked to my source code.

There's also been a spate of AI companies rushing to release products and having "oops" moments where they leaked customer chats or whatever.

They're not run like a FAANG, they don't have the same security pedigree, and they generally don't have any real guarantee of privacy.

So yes, my privacy is more valuable.

Conversely: Why is my non-privacy so valuable to Anthropic? Do they plan on selling my data? Maybe not now... but when funding gets a bit tight? Do they plan on selling my information to the likes of Cambridge Analytica? Not just superficial metadata, but also an AI-summarised history of my questions?

The best thing to do would be not to ask. But they are asking.

Why?

Why only them?