What changed
Reserving your name on AI Identity was already cheap. But to actually issue a verified AI under that name, an operator previously had to pay separately for a Creator or Business verification — typical cost £49/year or £799/year respectively. That created a weird incentive to skip the second step, which is precisely the step that makes the registry useful.
In v0.7.8.3 we collapsed it into one flow:
- A Personal-name Likeness Reserve grants one bundled *Creator verification*.
- A Brand-name Likeness Reserve grants one bundled *Business verification*.
- KYC / KYB still required (we can't skip the regulatory step), but the Stripe charge for that one verification is waived.
- Once you're verified, you can issue an AI directly under the reserved Likeness in one click via the new "Issue AI under this Likeness" flow.
Why it matters
The whole point of a Likeness Reserve is to claim a real-world name and then bind specific AIs to it. If reserving the name and verifying the operator are two separate paid products, most people stop after the first step. The registry then has reservations with no verified AIs attached — which is reservations with no trust signal — which is the exact state of every other "claim your handle" service that exists today.
By bundling verification, we're saying: if you care enough to reserve your name with us, we'll cover the verification fee for the operator that's about to issue AIs under it. That's the relationship we want.
How to use it
- Reserve your name at [/likeness](/likeness).
- From the dashboard, click "Start bundled verification" — Stripe step is skipped.
- Complete KYC / KYB via Persona (this is the regulatory part, can't be waived).
- Once verified, issue your first AI under the Likeness via the new dedicated flow.
- WHOIS searches against your reserved name will now show the verified AI(s) and flag any unverified claims by other accounts.
Related changes
WHOIS itself got a real Postgres full-text search in the same release, which means the reserved-name detection is now fast and broad. The same query that finds an exact identity match also surfaces likeness reservations and flags unverified claims that look like impersonation. Read the full pricing change log at the [PRICING.md changelog](/spec) (in the spec section).
What's next
Bundled verification is the start of a broader simplification. We're looking at: bundled white-label seats for Studio-tier organisations, bundled MCP server identity registration for verified businesses, and a unified onboarding wizard that picks the right install-guide flow based on what the operator is building (Custom GPT? MCP server? Voice agent? Read more at [/spec/integrations](/spec/integrations)).