Worldcoin A simple guide to Sam Altman’s crypto orb that scans eyeballs
Worldcoin A simple guide to Sam Altman's crypto orb that scans eyeballs
The Worldcoin Orb: A Glimpse into the Future of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Identity
Worldcoin, a cutting-edge technology company, is taking the world by storm with its ambitious project that aims to preserve our “humanness” in the face of advancing artificial intelligence. Their flagship product, the Worldcoin Orb, has already collected over 2 million iris scans and is now on a world tour to add more.
So what exactly is this all about? And more importantly, should you think about signing up?
The Orb: Shiny, Grapefruit-sized, and Intriguing
The Worldcoin Orb, designed with the assistance of a top Apple designer, is a shiny device about the size of a large grapefruit. Worldcoin has already produced around 1,500 orbs and plans to build more. The purpose of the orb is simple – it scans and records your unique iris, converting it into a secure string of numbers known as an IrisCode. When combined with an algorithm, this IrisCode verifies your identity as a unique human being through an app on your phone.
Fortune’s Leo Schwartz even underwent a scan and provided a detailed technical explanation in his feature.
Joining the Orb Experience
Worldcoin offers the orb service in 35 cities worldwide, including popular locations like Miami and New York. Additionally, they are organizing a tour, setting up pop-up sites where interested individuals can have their iris scanned. A comprehensive list of locations can be found on the Worldcoin website.
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Ensuring Humans Stay Human in an AI-dominated World
Worldcoin is owned by Tools for Humanity, a parent company with the mission to bring blockchain-based digital identity tools to everyone. With an increasing dominance of bots and artificial intelligence, it is becoming challenging to distinguish between real humans and machines. Worldcoin’s solution is to utilize the unique image of an individual’s iris as a foolproof way to prove their “humanness.”
Behind the vision of Worldcoin is Sam Altman, a Stanford dropout and entrepreneur who previously ran the prestigious Silicon Valley incubator, Y Combinator. Altman is best known today as the founder and CEO of OpenAI, the company behind the popular AI tool, ChatGPT. Notably, Worldcoin has successfully raised over $200 million from prominent venture capital firms like Khosla Ventures and Bain Capital.
The Crypto Angle: Bridging Biometrics with Currency
Participating individuals who consent to have their iris scanned receive a small number of cryptocurrency tokens known as Worldcoin (WLD). These tokens recently began trading and are currently valued at just over $2 each. Worldcoin distributed the tokens through an “airdrop” method, directly sending them to the eligible recipients’ wallets instead of listing them on an exchange.
In the future, Worldcoin envisions a world where these tokens are part of a larger ecosystem, facilitating identity verification through iris scans for a wide range of services. Additionally, Worldcoin believes this technology could play a role in a futuristic universal basic income scheme.
To Sign Up or Not: Weighing the Risks
The decision to sign up for the Worldcoin Orb experience ultimately lies with each individual. Worldcoin assures users that the orb is designed with advanced privacy technology known as zero-knowledge proofs, which ensures that not even the company itself can identify you. While privacy experts consider this technology effective, critics urge caution, warning against entrusting biometric data to a private company like Worldcoin.
Ultimately, the choice to participate in this groundbreaking project rests on each person’s comfort level and trust in Worldcoin’s responsible handling of personal information.
In a world increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence, Worldcoin’s Orb offers a fascinating glimpse into the future of identity verification and the intersection of biometrics and cryptocurrency. As technology continues to advance, the need for innovative solutions to preserve our “humanness” becomes paramount, and Worldcoin is at the forefront of this exciting frontier.
