As if it were a kind of universal ID, the creator of Chat GPT, Sam Altman, has just launched Worldcoin, a project to certify human identity in the digital world in exchange for cryptocurrencies.
Verification that one is a human being is done through what the company calls ‘The Orb’, a metallic ball the size of a ball that scans the iris of the person in question. These devices are already spread across some of the world’s major cities, including Barcelona and Madrid. Then, to receive the Worldcoin cryptocurrencies you have to download an application. The creators ensure that giving the name, email or phone number is optional.
Altman’s idea arises from his concern about the consequences that artificial intelligence may have on the development of society, which is curious, considering that he is one of the main promoters of this revolution from the company he founded, Open AI. Tools for Humanity, the company under which Worldcoin operates, has more than two million users in 34 countries, according to its data. Its ultimate goal is to offer a universal income in cryptocurrencies from which all people can benefit… even those who lose their job due to AI.
Worldcoin, however, will not be available in the US in a first phase, due to its regulations governing cryptocurrencies.
In exchange for registering, the user will receive free tokens. As the company itself explains, the idea is that people can have capital in this digital currency to compensate for the jobs that will be destroyed in the coming years as a result of the advancement of systems based on artificial intelligence. Altman believes that in this way inequalities in the world population would be reduced.
Iris readers – “The Orb” – are found mainly in shopping malls. In Spain they already exist in 13 locations, four of them in Barcelona (Diagonal Mar, Splau, La Maquinista and Maremagnum). The creators of Worldcoin have chosen this biometric parameter because it is more difficult to counterfeit. Once the eye is scanned, the person obtains a “privacy-preserving global digital passport”.
In a statement to Reuters, Altman is still not clear how the profits obtained from the tokens will be distributed, but he defends that you have to experiment to know what steps to follow. The same website explains that “there are no guarantees about how much WLD (Worldcoin token) will be worth, or if it will have value. Like other digital assets, the value of the Worldcoin token can change, even significantly, up or down.”
If the project were to continue to grow and succeed, a new range of services could be opened up, the company explains. “The global personality test will unlock a new generation of products and services,” she says. Some of these would be voting, social networks or financial services. It would also be used to better distribute aid, scholarships or subsidies from governments.
The project started three years ago and is currently in its beta phase. “If successful, we believe that Worldcoin could dramatically increase economic opportunity, scale a trusted solution to distinguish humans from AI online while preserving privacy, enable global democratic processes, and ultimately show a potential path to AI-funded universal basic income,” they said in the launch statement.
One of the points that Worldcoin has insisted on is privacy. Although they assure that the iris is enough to identify a human being and that the image taken will be erased as soon as “humanity” is verified, there is a fine print. They ensure that the data is encrypted and that they are not commercialized, however, in the privacy statement of Tools for Humanity it indicates that “they can be transferred”.
“When you provide us with your data, it may be transferred to, stored or processed in a location outside of where your data was originally collected. The country to which your data is transferred, stored or processed may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the data.
