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Sam Altman’s digital ID project Worldcoin has launched in the US, making its controversial iris-scanning technology and cryptocurrency token available in the country as Donald Trump’s administration embraces the digital asset sector.
The group aims to make the US its core market after initially rolling out the product outside the country in 2023, partly because of the Joe Biden administration’s more hostile attitude to crypto. Altman, who is also chief executive of $300bn artificial intelligence company OpenAI, lamented at the time that his venture, recently rebranded as World, would be “World minus the US coin”.
Trump has since pledged to make America the “crypto capital of the planet”.
Announcing the US rollout at an event in San Francisco on Wednesday evening, Altman said: “I’m a very proud American, I think America should lead innovation, not fight it off.”
World’s technology, he added, was “a way to make sure humans remained central and special in a world where the internet had a lot of AI-driven content.”
“There were very good reasons why we focused on making sure that the product worked in the entire world before coming to the United States. Some of them are related to regulatory changes,” said Adrian Ludwig, chief architect at Tools for Humanity, the primary developer behind World.
Altman and Alex Blania founded Tools for Humanity in 2019. It has raised about $200mn to date from venture capitalists including Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, as well as FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud last year.
Altman and Blania argue a reliable method of distinguishing humans from computers is essential as AI becomes more advanced.
World manufactures eyeball-scanning “orbs” that generate unique IDs, which can be used to access the group’s Worldcoin token. The spherical devices are roughly the size of a basketball, but World is working on handheld models and wants to eventually integrate the technology directly into web cameras or mobile devices.
The group aims to build as many as 10,000 orbs for the US market within the next 12 months, roughly five times its current global supply. It is building a new factory in Richardson, Texas, to assemble the orbs, according to Ludwig.
The launch of advanced AI models — which can accurately mimic human interaction — has introduced real-world applications for World’s technology and made the company’s premise sound less like science fiction.
The models opened the door to sophisticated fraud, phishing scams and duplicity online. On Wednesday, World announced a partnership with online dating company Match Group to verify users of apps including Tinder. Ludwig argued the technology could play a role across government and community services.
It could also boost trust and safety on a social network, he said. OpenAI, which is reportedly developing its own social network, could be a future partner, though Ludwig added World’s technology could also be used by rival groups such as Elon Musk’s X or Meta.
World has yet to make a profit and faced pushback in a number of countries over security and privacy concerns. Last year, the group was blocked by Spain’s data protection regulator, which raised concerns the company was collecting personal information about minors. It also faced bans, probes or fines in Portugal, Hong Kong, South Korea and France.
Ludwig said World, which offers eyeball scans in about 20 countries, ensured all biometric data was anonymous.
He estimated that in “18 months or so we will begin to see the costs of operating the network begin to be offset by the fees that are generated by the network”.
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