The biometric identity verification project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was officially launched in the U.S. this Thursday, marking a significant step in the effort to build a global identification system based on blockchain technology and retinal scanning.
Sam Altman founded a project called 'World' (formerly known as Worldcoin) in 2019 with the goal of creating a human identity verification system to prevent fraud and bots on the Internet.
How the World system works
Users approach a spherical device called the Orb, which will scan their face and retina in about 30 seconds, then generate a unique identifier – called IrisCode – to verify that the person is a unique individual who has not registered before.
After successful registration, users will receive a free amount of cryptocurrency called WLD, while also being able to use their World ID to log into integrated platforms, including Minecraft, Reddit, Telegram, Shopify, and Discord.
From May 1, World opened its first 6 registration locations in the U.S., located in cities: Austin, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Nashville, Miami, and San Francisco.
At an event held in San Francisco on Wednesday, World announced two notable partnerships with Visa and Tinder.
Visa will issue the 'World Visa Card' this summer – only for those who have undergone retinal scanning through the World system.
Match Group, the parent company of Tinder, will test the World ID system for user age verification in Japan.
Although Sam Altman was present at the event, the company representatives stated that there are currently no plans to integrate World with OpenAI's products.
Concerns about privacy and personal data
One of the major controversies surrounding World is the issue of biometric data storage. According to project representatives, data is retained in part to prevent fraudulent activities (such as scanning the retina twice).
However, they assert that the data is distributed and cannot be reverse-engineered to identify individuals – unlike regular anonymous data, which is easy to decode.
Adrian Ludwig, Chief Security Officer of Tools for Humanity (the startup founded by Altman to operate the World project), stated that personal data is fragmented and stored by multiple parties, including some financial and blockchain organizations.
"We learn from major leaks like the Panama Papers – we should not keep all sensitive data in one place. Therefore, we distribute data across multiple organizations and use encryption to protect it. To steal everything, an intruder would have to break into all storage parties at the same time," Ludwig said.
Tools for Humanity has raised over $140 million from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase, and billionaire Reid Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn), achieving a valuation of $1 billion in 2021.
So far, the system has approximately 26 million global users, with 12 million verified. However, the growth rate is slower than expected: The project once aimed to reach 1 billion users by 2023 – but is still quite far from that goal.
According to CNBC
