On Monday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman unveiled Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project.
The project’s main offering is its World ID, which only real individuals can obtain. To obtain a World ID, a consumer must first sign up for an in-person iris scan utilizing Worldcoin’s ‘orb,’ a silver ball about the size of a bowling ball. When the orb’s iris scan confirms that the individual is a real human, it generates a World ID.
Tools for Humanity, based in San Francisco and Berlin, is the business behind Worldcoin.
Since its beta period, the project has gained 2 million users, and with Monday’s debut, Worldcoin is expanding its “orbing” activities to 35 cities in 20 nations. Those that sign up in select countries will receive Worldcoin’s cryptocurrency token WLD as an incentive.
According to co-founder Alex Blania, the cryptocurrency part of the World IDs is significant because cryptocurrency blockchains can store the World IDs in a way that ensures anonymity and cannot be controlled or shut down by any single body.
According to the initiative, World IDs will be required in the age of generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, which produce amazingly humanlike language. World IDs could be used to distinguish between genuine humans and AI bots on the internet.
Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that it would list Worldcoin, with trading set to begin on Monday at 0900 GMT.
According to Altman, Worldcoin can also assist address how generative AI will transform the economy.
“People will be supercharged by AI, which will have massive economic implications,” he predicted.
Altman favors the concept of universal basic income, or UBI, which is a social benefits programme often managed by governments in which every individual is entitled to payments. Altman argues that because AI “will do more and more of the work that people now do,” UBI can assist to reduce income inequality. Because World IDs can only be used by genuine people, they could be used to reduce fraud while introducing UBI.
Altman said he thought a world with UBI would be “very far in the future” and he did not have a clear idea of what entity could dole out money, but that Worldcoin lays groundwork for it to become a reality.
“We think that we need to start experimenting with things so we can figure out what to do,” he said.
