As an employee I use some team plan for ChatGPT and recently I needed to add a phone number for the Mac app. I uninstalled it. I dont have company provided phone number and dont want to link my personal phone number here and there.

Few days ago I saw that the 5.6 sol model perform better than claude code and wanted to try it out. Unfortunately I have the same restriction. The 3 options are not working for me - I dont want to share my personal mobile number, dont want to install Whatsapp just to authenticate with GPT (also sharing my phone number) and the device token is basically the same - it ask for a mobile number.

I know in 2026 no one have concerns sharing whatever personal information widely/on internet/for every other service that will resell or link that information. But I dont want to do that.

I write this, not because I expect support to tell me - yes, it is this way now. I want to raise attention that the reason behind (more security) is just another data collection.

OpenAI, consider authenticating your clients without asking personal information. I know this may sound weird - but there are plenty of other options - email, 2FA, MFA, Ubi key (I saw it in your options).

Welcome to the community!

A lot of users share your frustration. For some stuff you even have to upload your face and ID. It’s definitely not great.

I would try take it up with your employer one more time. If they can afford a 50 dollar subscription, they can afford a 20 dollar prepaid sim card. Is that meeting anyone’s objectives? No. Is it guaranteed to work if you get a recycled phone number? Also no. Will OpenAI listen? I think that’s astronomically unlikely. But it’s good to have your voice heard.

Sorry… and good luck!

My gut tells me, that as much as we love privacy, we’re in a world with autonomous agents now, and until some sci-fi future where those become independent legal entities to be held accountable for their own actions, which is probably still many philosophical and technical light years away from happening, there will be even MORE “KYC” (know your customer) protocols put into accessing models and agents than less. So if those things are your concern, you best invest in a decent GPU and look to the open models for your needs… they don’t ask questions and nothing leaves your machine. You want to fly anon? Build your own plane. You want to fly a high end commercial plane? You’re gonna need ID and maybe more. Cause one endangers you, the other could theoretically endanger the plane maker legally, or the people in your path when you take off.