Tech
OpenAI’s Sam Altman launches Worldcoin crypto project
Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, will launch on Monday.
The project’s main offering is the World ID, an account that only real humans can get. To get a World ID, a customer signs up to take an in-person iris scan using the Worldcoin “sphere,” a silver ball about the size of a bowling ball. Once the sphere’s iris scan verifies that the person is a real human, it creates a world ID.
The company behind Worldcoin is Tools for Humanity based in San Francisco and Berlin.
The project has 2 million users since its beta period, and with Monday’s launch, Worldcoin is expanding “orbing” operations to 35 cities in 20 countries. As an enticement, those who sign up in some countries will receive Worldcoin’s WLD cryptocurrency token.
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The cryptocurrency aspect of world IDs is important because cryptocurrency blockchains can store world IDs in a way that preserves privacy and cannot be controlled or shut down by any single entity, co-founder Alex Blania told Reuters.
The project says global IDs will be needed in the era of generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, which produce remarkably human-like language. Global IDs could be used to distinguish between real people and online AI robots.
Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchangesaid it will list Worldcoin with the tentative opening of trading scheduled for Monday at 0900 GMT.
Altman told Reuters that Worldcoin can also help address how the economy will be reshaped by generative artificial intelligence.
“People will be empowered by artificial intelligence, which will have huge economic implications,” he said.
One example Altman likes is universal basic income, or UBI, a social benefits program usually run by governments in which every individual is entitled to payments. As AI “increasingly does the work people do now,” Altman believes UBI can help fight income inequality. Since only real people can have worldwide IDs, it could be used to reduce fraud when implementing UBI.
Altman said he thinks a world with UBI would be “very far in the future” and he doesn’t have a clear idea of what entity could distribute money, but that Worldcoin lays the groundwork for it to become a reality.
“We think we need to start experimenting with things so we can figure out what to do,” he said.
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