Sam Altman's eye-scanning ID project arrives in the UK
What's the story
Sam Altman's biometric identity verification project, called World, is set to launch in the UK this week. The innovative venture scans people's eyes to provide a World ID—an anonymous biometric credential aimed at proving they are human in an increasingly AI‑dominated online environment. It will become available in London from Thursday and is planning to roll out to several other major UK cities, including Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Belfast, and Glasgow.
Technological innovation
How does the World project work?
The World project uses a spherical eye-scanning device called the Orb to scan a person's face and iris, creating a unique code that verifies their humanity. Once an iris code is created, users can use their unique World ID for signing into various applications. The company also rewards users with some of World's WLD cryptocurrency.
Market response
Project's enterprise and government demand
As per Adrian Ludwig, Chief Architect of Tools for Humanity, a key contributor to World, the project is witnessing huge demand from enterprise users and governments. This comes as the threat of AI being used to defraud services like banking and online gaming continues to rise. "The idea is no longer just something that's theoretical. It's something that's real and affecting them every single day," he said.
Growth strategy
World's plans after US launch
World recently launched in the US with six flagship retail locations. Looking ahead, Ludwig said the plan is to "increase the number of people who can be verified by an order of magnitude over the next few months." Since its launch as "Worldcoin" in 2021, Altman's World has faced privacy concerns. However, the start-up claims it tackles these issues by encrypting biometric data collected and deleting original data.
Network expansion
World's verification system
World's verification system relies on a decentralized network of users' smartphones, not the cloud, to perform individual identity checks. Currently, the company has 13 million verified users and plans to scale that up. Ludwig contends that World is a scalable network because all computation and data storage occur directly on a user's device, while only the verification of an individual's uniqueness is managed by third-party providers.
Regulatory discussions
Governments are interested in digital ID schemes
Ludwig said that governments are showing interest in digital ID schemes. "We've been having lots of conversations with regulators," Ludwig told CNBC. "In general, there's been lots of questions: how do we make sure this works? How do we protect privacy? If we engage with this, does it expose us to risks?" "All of those questions we've been able to answer," he added. "It's been a while since we've had a question asked we didn't have an answer to."