The future really is here but perhaps not in the way you might expect, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's new company 'World' introduces eye-scanning orbs in six locations across the United States, providing controversial 'proof' that you're a human.
It was inevitable that lines would begin to blur with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, and that's never been more true on the internet when it's becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between man and machine.
Problems surrounding this can range from the annoying level of spam that AI bots create to the dangers of fraud that increasingly accurate replication software can open up the doors to, and ChatGPT creator Sam Altman believes he has the solution to a problem he might just have created.
As reported by CNBC, Altman co-founded global identity verification company 'World' (originally 'Worldcoin') with Max Novendstern and Alex Blania, and the projects aim is to use eye-scanning technology to verify everyone's identity as human against the ever-growing sea of bots.
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Key to their mission are what they call 'Orbs' - spherical biometric devices that scan both your face and irises to create a stored 'image' of your identity in the form of what World calls an 'IrisCode' in conjunction with your 'World ID'.
This then, in theory, allows you to easily verify your own identity and status as a human being, and it's now being introduced into six locations across the United States: Austin, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Nashville, Miami, and San Francisco.
You can currently use your World ID to sign-in to a number of popular platforms including Reddit, Minecraft, Telegram, Shopify, and Discord, and World has announced plans to integrate your IrisCode with exclusive Visa cards and even dating apps.
"We wanted a way to make sure that humans stayed special and central, in a world where the internet was going to have lots of AI-driven content," outlined Altman during a keynote speech at World's 'At Last' event.
Many remain firm that World's efforts to catalog our 'human data' are controversial at best and dangerous at worst, with one Reddit comment outlining the biggest worries surrounding Altman's new venture:
"They will now own and hold your eyeball data and they could literally do anything with it. Paired with AI and deepfake, don't be surprised when you get arrested for any offense in the future."
Another adds that "it goes beyond just personal information on your identity, it's like voluntarily giving your finger prints to a third party and they could do whatever they want with them."
Something that World have introduced to convince people that might be on the fence though is its own cryptocurrency coin, which they are giving out to people to hand over their iris and face data at one of the new Orb stations.
It's not clear how much of the 'Worldcoin' crypto you get for signing up, but it's likely not going to be worth it for many considering the current price. Don't be fooled by the heights of Bitcoin right now, as Worldcoin sits at just $1.33 per coin with a peak of $11.69 half a year ago according to data from CoinMarketCap.