Worldcoin wants companies and governments using its system – 02/08/2023 – Tech

Worldcoin will expand its operations to have more users globally and intends to allow other organizations to use its iris scanning and identity verification technology, a senior manager at the company behind the project told Reuters.

Co-founded by OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman, Worldcoin was launched last week and requires users to scan their iris in exchange for a digital ID and, in some countries, free cryptocurrencies as part of plans to create a “network financial and identity”.

On enrollment sites around the world, people have had their faces scanned by a glowing orb, ignoring privacy activists’ concerns that biometric data could be misused.

Worldcoin says 2.2 million people signed up, mostly during a trial period over the past two years. Data regulators in the UK, France and Germany said they were investigating the project.

“We’re on this mission to build the biggest financial and identity community that we can,” said Ricardo Macieira, general manager for Europe at Tools For Humanity, the company behind the project, based in San Francisco and Berlin.

Worldcoin raised $115 million (R$552 million) from venture capital investors including Blockchain Capital, a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global in a funding round in May.

Macieira said that Worldcoin will continue to implement operations in Europe, Latin America, Africa and “all parts of the world that accept us”.

Worldcoin’s website mentions several possible applications, including distinguishing humans from figures created by artificial intelligence, enabling “global democratic processes” and showing a “potential path” towards universal basic income, although these results are not guaranteed.

Most people polled by Reuters on these subscription sites in the UK, India and Japan last week said they were signing up to receive the 25 free Worldcoin tokens the company says verified users can request.

“I don’t think we’re going to be responsible for generating a universal basic income. If we can create the infrastructure that allows governments or other entities to do that, we’ll be very happy,” said Macieira.

In the future, the technology behind the iris-scanning sphere will be open source, added Macieira.

Regulators and privacy activists have raised concerns about Worldcoin’s data collection, including whether users are giving informed consent and whether a single company should be responsible for handling the data.

Worldcoin’s website says the project is “completely private” and that biometric data is either deleted or users can choose to store it in encrypted form.