They ask a phone number to sign up. WTF?

I signed up with openai a while ago and I didn’t need to provide any phone number…. I wanna delete my open ai account, but then I cannot use claude without a phone?

▲

brookst 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It’s a way to mitigate bot accounts. Arguably not the best way, arguably not the right cost/benefit, but all of these services see massive bot traffic and are in a constant battle.

	▲	4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		[deleted]

▲

kristjansson 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

When did you sign up for OpenAI? They been requiring a phone sign the very first betas

▲

badlibrarian 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If you sign up with a Google account you don't need to give them a phone number. I realize the irony here.

▲

dynm 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Not sure why you're being downvoted. It's unusual and harmful to privacy to require a phone number.

▲

derwiki 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I’m not disagreeing with you but I highly suggest getting something like a burner number. Google Voice and Twilio usually work for me, but sometimes they are flagged VOIP and blocked.

	▲	dynm 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		As you say, it's sort of a cat-and-mouse game, and I'd rather not play it. Fortunately, there are plenty of competitors that don't require a phone number.
	▲	daveguy 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Most places that ask for a phone number refuse to accept Google Voice or Twilio phone numbers. It's specifically to guarantee you have a cell-phone assigned number. Can anyone confirm whether Anthropic allows Google Voice or Twilio numbers?

▲

BloondAndDoom 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Unfortunately it became so common we don’t even care anymore, one of those things that normalized