OpenAI introduces mandatory ID verification for developers amid concerns of misuse, IP theft | Technology News

As part of the verification process, developers would have to furnish a government-issued ID from one of the countries supported by OpenAI’s API. Each ID can only verify one organisation every 90 days and not all organisations will be eligible for verification, the company said.

It appears that OpenAI’s new verification process is aimed at protecting its products from malicious actors and possibly prevent IP theft as well.

“At OpenAI, we take our responsibility seriously to ensure that AI is both broadly accessible and used safely. Unfortunately, a small minority of developers intentionally use the OpenAI APIs in violation of our usage policies. We’re adding the verification process to mitigate unsafe use of AI while continuing to make advanced models available to the broader developer community,” the company said.

In February this year, OpenAI released a report stating that it had blocked ChatGPT user accounts with potential ties to China and North Korea as they allegedly leveraged the AI chatbot as part of their covert online surveillance and disinformation campaigns.

The company withdrew its AI services from China last year. Recently, OpenAI also accused Chinese AI startup DeepSeek of violating its terms of use by exfiltrating vast amounts of data through its API for training its own AI models.

At this stage, OpenAI has not elaborated on whether the uploaded IDs of users will be stored on its servers and for how long. In India, user verification through government-issued IDs has been a particularly contentious issue, especially in the context of social media platforms. The potential impact of OpenAI’s mandatory ID verification on user privacy is unclear due to the lack of clarity and transparency around the verification process.