Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, launched on Monday. „The Worldcoin project was created to help build an identity & financial network connecting billions of people in the Age of AI” according to the company. World IDs could be used to tell the difference between real people and AI bots online.
The project’s core offering is its World ID, which the company describes as a „digital passport” to prove that its holder is a real human, not an AI bot. To get a World ID, a customer signs up to do an in-person iris scan using Worldcoin’s ‘orb’, a silver ball approximately the size of a bowling ball. Once the orb’s iris scan verifies the person is a real human, it creates a World ID.
The project has 2 million users from its beta period, and with Monday’s launch, Worldcoin is scaling up „orbing” operations to 35 cities in 20 countries. As an enticement, those who sign up in certain countries will receive Worldcoin’s cryptocurrency token WLD.
The project will increase the number of available Orbs to 1.5K throughout the summer and fall.
Blockchains can store the World IDs in a way that preserves privacy and can’t be controlled or shut down by any single entity, co-founder Alex Blania told Reuters.
The project says World IDs will be necessary in the age of generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, which produce remarkably humanlike language. World IDs could be used to tell the difference between real people and AI bots online.
Altman told Reuters Worldcoin also can help address how the economy will be reshaped by generative AI.
„People will be supercharged by AI, which will have massive economic implications,” he said.
“In the age of AI, the need for proof of personhood is no longer a topic of serious debate; instead, the critical question is whether or not the proof of personhood solutions we have can be privacy-first, decentralized and maximally inclusive,” said Worldcoin co-founder and Tools for Humanity CEO Alex Blania. “Through its unique technology, Worldcoin aims to provide anyone in the world, regardless of background, geography or income, access to the growing digital and global economy in a privacy preserving and decentralized way.”
It’s estimated that more than 4 billion people worldwide lack a legal, digitally-verifiable identity. This critically limits participation in the global economy as well as access to critical services like healthcare, government aid and financial services.
„If successful, Worldcoin’s global decentralized identity and financial network could drastically increase economic opportunity, scale a reliable and privacy-preserving way to distinguish humans from AI online, enable global democratic processes and eventually show a potential path for AI-funded universal basic income (UBI).” – the company says.
Over the last six months of its beta phase, the Worldcoin project has verified the uniqueness and humanness of more than 40,000 individuals per week. The availability of 1.5K Orbs will more than 5x sign up capacity globally and enable millions of additional people to join the 2 million who have already signed up for World ID.
In countries like Spain, where more than 150K people have already verified their World ID, the project will scale its existing operations up to 3x in the coming months. In other countries such as France and Brazil, for a limited time pop-ups will allow people to locate a nearby Orb and sign up for World ID.
To review, the Orb, which was originally developed by Tools for Humanity (TFH), is the first custom biometric imaging device built for the Worldcoin project to verify humanness and uniqueness in a secure and privacy-preserving way. Anyone with a World ID-compatible wallet, such as TFH’s World App, can sign up for World ID at an Orb by visiting a Worldcoin Operator location or community specialist to access an Orb.
See below for a list of 35+ cities in 20+ countries across five continents where Orbs will be available between now and the end of 2023. The list includes cities in which Orbs are currently available and those that will have Orbs available between now and the end of the year. Additional cities may be added in the future.
Africa/Middle East: Dubai, Kampala, Nairobi
Americas: Bariloche, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Los Angeles, Mar del Plata, Mexico City, Miami, Monterrey, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, San Francisco, São Paulo
Asia: Bangalore, Delhi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Manila, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo
Europe: Barcelona, Berlin, Bilbao, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Munich, Palma de Mallorca, Paris, Porto, Sevilla, Valencia, Warsaw
Locations and reservations (where necessary) will be available via World App and here. This information will also often be shared on the official Worldcoin Twitter account.
Worldcoin is intended to be the world’s largest, most inclusive identity and financial public utility, owned by everyone. The Worldcoin protocol currently consists of:
World ID, a privacy-preserving digital identity designed to help solve important, identity-based challenges, including proving an individual’s unique personhood
Worldcoin token (WLD), where laws allow, the first digital currency to be freely distributed to people for just being a unique human*
World App, the first World ID-compatible app, developed and operated by Tools for Humanity, that enables payment, purchases and transfers globally using digital assets and fiat-backed stablecoins
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Along with today’s launch announcement, a series of other important related documents and articles have been released. You can find them at whitepaper.worldcoin.org.‡
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
