A digital biometrics initiative called Worldcoin is gaining attention worldwide, with people queuing up to have their irises scanned by silver spheres known as ‘Orbs’.
These Orbs are part of the Worldcoin platform, which launched in July 2023 following 18 months of testing. Created by Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI (the company responsible for ChatGPT), and entrepreneur Alex Blania, Worldcoin gives users a ‘digital passport’ and a small amount of a cryptocurrency token named Worldcoin (WLD) as a reward.
The main objective of Worldcoin is to establish a ‘proof of personhood’ that distinguishes humans from artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the online realm. However, critics argue that the company is effectively incentivising people to hand over sensitive biometric data. Governments are stepping over major privacy concerns, with Worldcoin’s platform suspended in Kenya and under investigation in several other nations.
Here’s how it works: Users can download the WorldApp on their mobile phones and locate their nearest Orb. The Orbs use iris scans to uniquely identify individuals. Upon undergoing iris scanning, users are issued a World ID, which functions as an online ID, much like a Google or Facebook login. The idea is not to reveal their identity in the conventional sense, only to confirm that the user is a real person and not a bot.
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