Open AI’s Sam Altman launches Worldcoin crypto project to share ‘technological success’
By Naomisophyblog
The founder of OpenAI, the company behind the popular chatbot, ChatGPT, Sam Altman, has launched Worldcoin, a crypto project he said is aimed at sharing technological prosperity.
Altman said the Worldcoin project which was co-founded with Alex Blania over three years ago with the ambition of creating a new identity and financial network owned by everyone, is being rolled out today.
Worldcoin is being rolled out by San Francisco and Berlin-based company, Tools for Humanity, which is headed by Blania.
The project has 2 million users from its beta period, and with Monday’s launch, Worldcoin said it is scaling up “orbing” operations to 35 cities in 20 countries. As an enticement, those who sign up in certain countries will receive Worldcoin’s cryptocurrency token WLD.
Economic opportunity
While noting that the future of the project is uncertain, Altman and Blania in a statement announcing the rollout said:
“If successful, we believe Worldcoin could drastically increase economic opportunity, scale a reliable solution for distinguishing humans from Al online while preserving privacy, enable global democratic processes, and eventually show a potential path to Al-funded UBI.
“Worldcoin consists of a privacy-preserving digital identity (World ID) and, where laws allow, a digital currency (WLD) received simply for being human. We hope that, where the rules are less clear, such as in the U.S., steps will be taken so more people can benefit from both.
“Worldcoin is an attempt at global scale alignment, the journey will be challenging and the outcome is uncertain. But finding new ways to broadly share the coming technological prosperity is a critical challenge of our time. We hope you’ll join us.”
With Monday’s rollout, Worldcoin said people can now download World App, the first protocol-compatible wallet, and reserve their share.
After visiting an Orb, a biometric verification device, you will receive a World ID. This lets you prove you are a real and unique person online while remaining completely private.
“As the global distribution of Orbs is ramping up, you can find the closest one and book time to be verified with World App and at worldeoin.org.,” it added.
The project said World IDs will be necessary for the age of generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, which produce remarkably humanlike language.
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World IDs could be used to tell the difference between real people and AI bots online.
Meanwhile, Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, has said it will list Worldcoin with the tentative opening of trading expected to be later on Monday.
