Last year, a foundation known as Tools for Humanity embarked on a tour to showcase its eye-scanning Orb. This metallic sphere—an actual, physical orb—was a crucial component in a process where individuals would eventually utilize their biometric data to confirm their humanity.
The initiative, named Worldcoin, could have easily been dismissed as another fantastical tech project likely to miss the mark, were it not for one prominent individual associated with it: Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, a company renowned for its significant impact on the tech landscape of our time. The seeds of Worldcoin were planted in 2019 when Altman began investigating identity verification methods applicable to universal basic income frameworks.
He collaborated with technologist Alex Blania to bring this vision to life. In an era characterized by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, they believed it was essential for individuals to prove their humanity to distinguish themselves from bots. Their solution involved individuals utilizing iris-scanning technology to create private tokens that would authenticate their identities on a global scale.
Thus, Worldcoin represents a bold endeavor in tech solutionism: A human-centric AI world that Altman is cultivating could also be governed through a tool in which he has a vested interest.
Today, in a spacious venue located in San Francisco’s Mission District, Altman and Blania shared their latest vision for Worldcoin, which has now been rebranded as the World Network, or simply World. The event featured keynote speeches, unveiling of new hardware, commitments to broaden services, and opportunities for tactile engagement with the innovative product, reminiscent of an Apple event but with a twist of psychedelic inspiration. (Attendees were humorously given the Wi-Fi password: IntelligenceAge.)
A representative from Tools for Humanity announced that everyone present at the event will have the chance to have their iris scanned today, and 500 attendees will be among the first to receive a new Orb when it is released in 2025.
During the keynote, Rich Heley, the chief device officer at Tools for Humanity, emphasized the urgency by stating, “We need more orbs, lots more orbs, probably on the order of a thousand more orbs than we have today.”
The latest Orb boasts a fresh, pearly appearance. It operates on Nvidia’s Jetson chipset and, as stated by Tools for Humanity, “provides nearly 5X the AI performance” for quicker identity verification. Yet, all of this still carries an air of the peculiar.
In Latin America, starting next year, the Orb will be available on-demand like pizza. Through a collaboration with the app Rappi, residents can have an Orb delivered right to their door to scan their irises and enroll in the World Network. Once the scan is complete, the Orb continues on its way. According to Tools for Humanity designer Thomas Meyerhoffer, the SD card that is delivered has no previous data.
The World organization announces the launch of two Orb-scanning locations in Buenos Aires and Mexico City. Additionally, the Orb may also appear at your local corner store or coffee shop, allowing you to order an iris scan along with your latte. Presently, there are four locations in the United States where you can “find your nearest Orb,” totaling 333 Orb sites worldwide.
The Orb hardware is essentially a collection of sensors and semiconductors designed to capture your iris data. Once this biometric information is collected, it is stored within an app. This naturally raises concerns regarding data privacy and security. However, Blania asserts that when a user creates a World ID and undergoes an iris scan, this data is encrypted and stored solely on local devices.
This World app and network will drive Altman and Blania’s vision for the future of identity verification, and these software services received an upgrade today as well.
Firstly, Altman and Blania announced that they have enhanced the capabilities of the World ID service to accommodate several hundred million credentials, an increase from the roughly 7 million World ID holders who are already “Orb-verified,” a somewhat disconcerting term.
The company is introducing a feature called Deep Face (a nod to “deepfake”) that aims to offer a new approach to prevent fraud. This feature will work with virtual communication platforms like FaceTime, WhatsApp, and Zoom. If someone appears in a video call claiming to be you, and you’ve been verified through World, the intention is that the app would indicate that it is not genuinely you.
WIRED inquired of Blania about how the company intends to deliver its Deep Face service, which would necessitate some form of facial recognition, while still complying with its newly established data privacy principles. He illustrated a situation where a person’s World ID is stored locally on their Mac computer, functioning as an application layer that overlays a video chat when that individual logs in and uses the device’s camera. However, World has not yet secured any formal partnerships with Apple, Meta, or Zoom for this solution; it merely stated that the World app will “support” these processes.
During the event today, World also revealed that its blockchain network—“the world’s first blockchain designed for humans”—is now operational, meaning that the several million World ID holders and World App users will be transitioned to this new foundational blockchain network.
Although the biometric-scanning Orb and the World network have origins linked to crypto tokens, the term “crypto” was rarely mentioned during the event. Instead, Altman and Blania focused on World’s blockchain services, digital asset management, and virtual communication tools.
Blania expressed during the press briefing that World aspires to create the “largest finance network” in the world in the future.
In a separate conversation with WIRED, Blania recounted that during their regular Sunday meetings at Altman’s residence, they drew inspiration from PayPal’s emergence. Just as Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, and their colleagues revolutionized digital payments and transformed online commerce—ultimately becoming billionaires—the World team envisions constructing a similar network for tokens on a distributed system.
Currently, the World app is available for free to all users. Scanning your irises comes at no cost as well. Tools for Humanity is back by venture funding, and the organization is intent on capturing the modern identity verification market and your personal biometric information, with a keen focus on scalability. Blania mentioned that in the future, they might generate revenue through processing fees.
Currently, Tools for Humanity is focusing its expansion efforts primarily in areas outside of the United States, largely due to unclear regulations regarding cryptocurrency within the country, as shared by a spokesperson for the organization.
For users in the US utilizing the Orb and its compatible app, the device will scan and save your iris data; however, it will not provide you with a crypto token.
Two and a half years ago, the Worldcoin initiative faced criticism for potentially misleading and exploitative practices while enlisting individuals for iris scans. At that time, Blania explained that this erratic approach was due to the organization being in a “startup” stage. During an interview with WIRED, he mentioned that the company is now undertaking “a thousand things” to implement a more thorough consent process. This includes deploying an “operational team” in each market where World aims to operate, along with clear “explanations” in the World app detailing how the product functions.
“Moreover, no data is stored in any central location or anything like that,” Blania emphasized.
In 2023, Worldcoin found itself under scrutiny from governments in Germany, Brazil, India, South Korea, and Kenya, primarily due to concerns regarding its handling of biometric data. As a result, the Kenyan government completely halted Worldcoin enrollment, while South Korea imposed a fine on the company. Consequently, Worldcoin decided to suspend its operations in India, Brazil, and France.
Blania expressed optimism about a potential relaunch of Worldcoin in Kenya “sometime soon.”
During a press briefing, when questioned about the focus on Latin America for expansion, especially regarding its collaboration with Rappi for orbs-on-delivery, Blania rejected the notion that Worldcoin was giving priority to Latin America over other regions.
“Our resources are limited, which creates a natural sequence of operations,” Blania explained. “We are equally concentrating on Asia and other regions as well. For instance, Argentina has emerged as a rapidly growing market for us, and we are enthusiastic about that.”
“But the project is actually named World,” he mentioned.
Following the keynote, Altman hurried into the press room to greet everyone and expressed his regrets for not being able to linger, then exited quietly as if he were a dignitary.
