How is Sam Altman's 'magic ball' project that scans each person's iris now?

The project's goal is to create a digital identity and global financial network using a biometric collection device called an Orb that scans each person's iris. The project also launched the WLD token and a digital ID.

How is Sam Altman's 'magic ball' project that scans each person's iris now? Picture 1

This project caused a lot of controversy. Some people think that this is an innovative approach that can be used to determine human identity with robots and AI. But others object, fearing that large-scale collection of biometric data is too risky, can be misused, and offers no assurances about the security of other related data.

Despite skepticism, Worldcoin has attracted 2.4 million registered users four months after its launch. Currently, World App, the project's e-wallet, has 10 million users, operating in more than 160 countries. Every day there are about two million users and more than 70 million transactions are processed. The transaction processing speed on the network is shortened to about 7.1 transactions per second.

By July this year, the project announced an expansion of 1,500 biometric collection devices globally.

However, Worldcoin also constantly faces legal barriers around the world. The project has fallen into the sights of several watchdogs. Spain, Portugal, Hong Kong and Kenya have banned Worldcoin from obtaining biometric data due to concerns about privacy and personal data, as well as saying that collecting and scanning iris is unnecessary. India, South Korea, and Germany are investigating Worldcoin.

Entering its second year, Worldcoin faces great pressure from well-founded concerns from regulators. If it can overcome Worldcoin, it could be closer to its goal of creating a globally decentralized identity system.

How ChatGPT boss's iris scanning ball works

The Worldcoin project of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, launched on July 24, 2023 with the purpose of providing a World ID "digital passport" to prove an individual is a real person, not a bot.

How is Sam Altman's 'magic ball' project that scans each person's iris now? Picture 2

To be granted a World ID, users need to scan their retinas with an Orb in the shape of a sphere, then AI will analyze the data and verify that this is a real person. Users just need to accept the iris scan to receive free cryptocurrency.

Orb is about the size of a bowling ball, has a sparkling silver color and has an integrated system including a camera and iris scanner.

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The iris was chosen for authentication because it is considered the best biometric authentication method to identify a person. Each person's iris is unique, even twins have different irises that do not change over time.

To start the scanning process, users will download the Worldcoin application, create a QR code on the application and get information for identity authentication.

The user sits still in front of the ball for 10 seconds while the camera system scans the face and iris. When a beep sounds, the scan is successful and identifies the scanned person as "a human, not a robot". Then, the ball will emit another beep to confirm that person is in the database. If everything goes well, this process will take about 10 minutes.

The data obtained from the sphere will be used to generate "IrisHash", a code stored locally on the sphere. The system uses a new privacy-preserving encryption method called PoP (Proof-of-Personhood) to check if that IrisHash already exists in the Worldcoin database. Upon successful registration, users can optionally provide an email address, phone number or QR code to access the Worldcoin wallet.

A Worldcoin representative affirmed that when the company completes training the AI ​​neural network to use iris recognition and fraud detection, the biometric information will be deleted. Until then, biometric information just resides on the sphere.

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After the scanning process, the system will send the user a World ID code, confirming the completed identification process and 25 WLD of free Worldcoin project cryptocurrency. Currently, WLD is listed on several major exchanges, including Binance, at a price of 2.39 USD per coin.

From the time of testing until now, the Orb ball has appeared in dozens of cities in more than 20 countries and more than two million people from 120 countries have been issued IDs.

However, some experts believe that the PoP user authentication system faces issues of privacy, accessibility, centralization and security.

Micah Soto

Update 27 July 2024