World-ID project launched by OpenAI co-founder
Scan iris to earn crypto? That’s the idea behind World-ID, OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman’s project.
Iris scans to earn crypto? That’s the idea behind World-ID, OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman.
Worldcoin rolled out the World-ID software last week. The software lets websites prove their users are authentic without having to store personal data.
To do this, users create a "global, digital passport" stored locally on their smartphones. It shouldn’t be necessary anymore to enter a phone number or other sensitive data.
Instead, it will be possible to prove a person’s authenticity via an iris scanner. This links the person’s unique iris data to a digital identity card and so makes the system supposedly fraud-resistant. In exchange for the scan of the eyeball, users earn cryptocurrency, Worldcoin (WDC).
In some countries, including Portugal and Spain, these iris scans are already available. For all other countries, identification via the smartphone will be available first, the provider said.
Meanwhile, a waitlist has opened for websites that want to implement the new Web ID. Critics of the project are mainly worried about data privacy. The company behind Worldcoin says, however, that zero-knowledge cryptography will ensure that no sensitive data needs to be disclosed. Additionally, the images from iris scans will not be stored, they say.
