Tech
Sam Altman Launches Biometrics-Based Cryptocurrency Worldcoin
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman launched the World currency cryptocurrency today (July 24)promising to provide a tool to “distinguish humans from artificial intelligence,” address online identity challenges, and address income inequality.
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Worldcoin is unique among cryptocurrencies in its use of a proof-of-personality credential (also known as PoP) issued by a personalized biometric imaging device called the OrbeThe device is equipped with a wide-angle camera and a telephoto camera that capture a high-resolution image of the human iris and process it into a unique digital identifier.
The cryptocurrency has been tested in countries such as Chile, Norway, Indonesia, Kenya, Sudan and Ghana over the past three years. By the end of the year, Worldcoin plans to make 1,500 orbs available in 35 cities in 20 countries to continue onboarding new users for free. Worldcoin has registered over 2 million registrations since it began beta testing, with 40,000 people signing up each week for a verified World ID.
After being listed on several cryptocurrency exchanges on Monday, the Worldcoin (WLD) token surged as much as 98% to a price of $3.30 per coin, from $1.66 on trading volume of 239 million dollarsaccording to Coingecko data.
Worldcoin’s UBI opportunity
In a Press releaseAltman and Worldcoin co-founder Alex Blania have touted the coin as a tool to enable global democratic processes and ultimately demonstrate a potential path to AI-funded universal basic income (UBI). “Worldcoin consists of a privacy-preserving digital identity (World ID) and, where laws allow, a digital currency (WLD) received simply for being human,” the pair said.
Altman has long been a supporter of universal basic income as a tool to address income inequality. He believes Worldcoin could help eliminate fraud if governments choose to adopt it in distributing UBI to their citizens. “Worldcoin is an attempt at alignment on a global scale, the journey will be challenging and the outcome is uncertain. But finding new ways to widely share future technological prosperity is a fundamental challenge of our time,” Altman and Blania’s statement said.
In May, Worldcoin Launches Global Appa crypto wallet designed by research laboratory and technology product development company Tools for Humanity (TFH)based in Denver, Colorado and co-founded by Altman and Blania.
The app runs on Ethereum’s Polygon blockchain protocol and offers users the opportunity to access Polygon-based versions of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ether, and stablecoins like the USD-pegged DAI token. However, World App remains limited as a crypto wallet as it was specifically designed to enable Worldcoin features. Initially it was the volunteers paid in bitcoin.
A fraud-proof digital passport?
As the online world becomes increasingly populated with bots, Worldcoin’s Orb-generated iris-based unique ID is designed to distinguish individuals from online AI chatbots and prevent fraud.
The platform effectively offers a solution to a problem that Altman’s OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, helped create, as OpenAI Paid ChatGPT API (application programming interface) has been used by developers to create human-like AI bots on the web.
Altman seems aware of the Catch 22 of AI development and says he is on a mission to shape AI regulation worldwideIn May, it even has called on Congress to regulate AI as the technology could cause harm to the world if allowed to get out of control and last week OpenAI pledged to Security commitment mediated by the White House.
By focusing on biometrics as proof of personhood, Altman is wading into another controversial area. Worldcoin is likely to face scrutiny over how data has been collected and processed so far, whether it can be protected from hackers in the future, and whether it can truly be fraud-proof.a black market for iris scans It has reportedly already bloomed.