Thanks to the great success of ChatGPT, we all know OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Few, however, will know that Altman is also among the founders of another ambitious startup with a project that would be simplistic to define science fiction: we present Worldcoin, who wants to scan your iris for… some cryptocurrencies!?
WorldCoin is the latest project from startup Tools for Humanity, behind which the name of Sam Altman is once again hidden. It will not surprise him, therefore, that the purpose of the company is to “distinguish humans from online AI” per “safeguard global democratic processes” e “drastically increase economic development”. The starting points are more or less the same as OpenAI and ChatGPT, also based on a “responsible” idea of AI.
The difference, however, is that WorldCoin and Tools for Humanity do not make AI, but systems of recognition and distinction between human beings and Artificial Intelligences. There startup has already raised the beauty of 250 million Dollars from various American lenders, which allowed it to start the rollout of its user identity recognition devices and its proprietary crypto token on a global scale.
WorldCoin’s design is simple: with a futuristic tool spherical in shape, Tools for Humanity will scan your iris and it will insert it into its database, in order to teach its programs to distinguish human eyes from those made by AI. In return, participants will be given 25 WorldCoins (WLD), which currently have a value of approximately $55. At the moment, more than two million people participated in the initiative. The hope of startup it is obviously that its token becomes a global and super-secure cryptocurrency, linked to the scans of each user’s iris as a system of access to his digital wallet.
Of course, the project participants must share their biometric data with Tools for Humanity: given the speed with which membership has increased in the space of a few weeks, moreover with a rollout limited to a few countries in North America and the Far East, it is possible that WorldCoin will soon become the largest biometric database in the worldwhich could be used (or sold) for a variety of purposes ranging from scientific research to citizen surveillance.
Not surprisingly, many already have criticized Sam Altman’s design, accusing him of having no scruples in withholding the biometric data of the participants in exchange for a negligible fee. Additionally, other rumors have explained that Tools for Humanity would use the monetary award for collect data especially in poor countries of the world, where a sum equal to 55 Dollars can guarantee a significant improvement in the economic conditions of a family or an individual.