Sam Altman says ‘Worldcoin” project is necessary to counter the threat of AI
The Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur who created ChatGPT unveiled plans to scan every iris in the world, to distinguish between real people and sophisticated machines.
Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) launched Worldcoin on Monday in Britain and other 34 countries.
The project aims to scan millions of eyeballs with a football-sized ball that weighs around six pounds.
Orbs are used to scan the eyes of people and create a unique digital file that Worldcoin refers to as a World ID, or “proof personhood”.
Mr Altman has said that it will enable people to prove they are not fraudsters or robots online.
The entrepreneur said that such verification was needed to counter the increasing threat of AI. He himself is on the front lines in advancing this technology. The company announced the launch of Worldcoin UK. “Increasingly powerful AI will make it more difficult to distinguish humans from bots.”
Around 150 orbs are in use by the company, and they have been deployed around the globe. Two of them were installed in London. The company has signed up about 2 million people so far, which is a small fraction of the eight billion people it hopes to reach.
Privacy advocates are concerned about the risks that could arise if a startup collects large amounts of biometric information.
Worldcoin has insisted its technology is “privacy-preserving”. The company claims that its orbs automatically delete biometric data.
In an interview, Altman acknowledged that the orbs did have “a clear ick-factor”.
He appeared to downplay the chances of this unusual venture on Monday. He said, “Maybe this works and maybe it does not. But trying new things like this is the way progress happens.”
I’m hoping Worldcoin will contribute to discussions about how we can share access, benefits and governance of future AI systems.
Altman launched the venture officially on Monday even though it has been in operation since 2019.
It has also been criticized for its initial focus on countries with low incomes, such as Sudan and Malaysia.
The MIT Technology Review reported that people who signed up for the project believed it was run by government officials or had official support. Worldcoin called these incidents isolated.
The project is backed by the cryptocurrency of that name. Local contractors operate the orbs that scan faces. They are paid in Worldcoin cryptocurrency for signing up new customers. People who submit their IDs for scanning will receive 25 Worldcoins free. On Monday, the tokens started trading at $1.70 and jumped to a maximum of $3.53.
The project raised almost $250m in cryptocurrency investments, including from US fund Andreessen Horowitz, and Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former founder of digital currency Exchange FTX.
The company faces regulatory hurdles in America and will not launch its digital coins in America due to increased scrutiny on cryptocurrencies.
ChatGPT , a new artificial intelligence service, was launched by OpenAI in Silicon Valley. Mr Altman is 38 years old.
The chatbot is a text-based system that answers questions. It has become increasingly popular as people use the program to create emails, code and essays. OpenAI, a product funded by Microsoft in the billions of dollars, has been launched as a competitor to Google’s products.
ChatGPT, and other powerful AI-based tools have also raised concerns that technology could spiral out. Altman previously stated that his “worst concern” was that AI would one day “significantly harm the world”.
Worldcoin suggested that its digital coin might one day be used to provide a form of international universal basic income, as AI is causing hundreds of millions jobs to be redundant.