'Way for Identifying Humans': Sam Altman's Startup Is Bringing Eyeball-Scanning Orbs to the U.S. The technology will debut in six U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and Miami.
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- The startup Tools for Humanity is bringing eyeball-scanning devices called Orbs to six U.S. cities this week.
- Tools for Humanity offers cryptocurrency payments in exchange for eye scans through the Orb.
Tools for Humanity, a startup co-founded in 2023 by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is expanding its field of vision.
The startup announced at a Wednesday event in San Francisco that it is sending out thousands of its eyeball-scanning Orb systems to the U.S. for the first time on a mass scale this week, per Bloomberg.
The Orb is a spherical device that allows people to scan their eyes to prove they are human, in exchange for a cryptocurrency token called Worldcoin. The eye scans create a unique user ID or digital passport, which can then be used to verify user identities and differentiate them from AI and bots.
The Orbs will be accessible through six new World Spaces stores, modeled after Apple stores and opening this week, reports Wired. The stores will be based in six U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Austin, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco.
Tools for Humanity is also partnering with Razer to bring Orbs to Razer's retail stores, with the goal of having 7,500 Orbs in the U.S. by the end of the year.
"We needed some sort of way for identifying, authenticating humans in the age of AGI," Altman said at the event while explaining how the startup originated. (AGI refers to artificial general intelligence that can meet or surpass human abilities.)
According to TIME, Tools for Humanity offered 25 units of its WLD cryptocurrency (worth about $26 today) to those who had their eyes scanned by the Orb last year. It's unclear how much cryptocurrency the startup will offer U.S. users.
While the promise of a cryptocurrency payment may entice some users to scan their eyes, Tools for Humanity Chief Architect Adrian Ludwig told Axios that the real draw was the services that an Orb eye scan unlocks, like age verification on dating apps.
Tools for Humanity announced on Wednesday at the event that it is joining forces with dating app giant Match Group to offer the option to verify ages with Orb scan. This initiative starts with Tinder users based in Japan.
"It's not about a small amount of crypto payment," Ludwig told the outlet. "It's really about unlocking the potential of all those other services."
The startup is additionally partnering with Visa to launch The World Card, which allows users to spend cryptocurrency anywhere Visa is accepted, in the U.S. later this year.
Related: Sam Altman Says Mastering AI Tools Is the New 'Learn to Code'
Tools for Humanity previously only conducted limited tests of the Orbs in the U.S. and didn't offer the scanning technology on a broad scale, per Bloomberg. The startup has scanned the eyes of more than 12 million people around the world through the Orb, including in countries like Portugal and Thailand, per Axios.
The startup, which was called Worldcoin until its rebrand late last year, encountered opposition in Spain last year, with regulators blocking the company over concerns that it was collecting biometric data. As of August, the startup had halted its activity in the country.
