Recently, Uncle Sam went ahead with Worldcoin scanning iris using orb-sized devices in exchange for crypto tokens, which he assumes is going to be the human identifier needed to survive. He  thinks that in the near future, AI will not only take our jobs but also might steal our identity and it would become extremely difficult to distinguish between a human and AI entity. 

After scanning your iris, it will generate a World ID that can be used on the World Wallet. This lets you prove you are a real and unique person online while remaining completely private. 

The three key problems Altman is specifically hoping to address are – identification, decentralization and providing universal basic income (UBI) in an AI dominated world. 

While these things seem revolutionary, people are raising several questions: 

Why Iris Scanning?

The most common question that comes to our mind is why Iris scans for biometrics to prove you are a human. According to Worldcoin co-founder Alex Blania, the company explored various methods to verify uniqueness and humanity, but ultimately, iris biometrics emerged as the only viable solution.“For a number of reasons, we didn’t want to go down that path,” he says. “But it really was the only solution,” he said. 

Altman, during his India visit, said that iris scanning is one of the approaches. However, they are working on other solutions to verify humans. “I think it’s good as a world for us to try many approaches to this problem” he expressed, saying that eventually these systems will help in governance, alongside enhancing the ability of equitably sharing the benefits of access. 

Why do you need Worldcoin, when you have Aadhar? 

In 2009, Government of India launched Aadhar Card to provide a unique identity to the citizens of the country. It was meant to help the government fund a number of social welfare schemes and programs that are focused on the poor and most vulnerable sections of society and to streamline delivery mechanisms under welfare schemes, thereby ensuring transparency and efficiency. WorldCoin’s goal is pretty much similar to that but on a global level. It aims to give back the wealth generated by AI back to society.

However, Worldcoin has yet to present a convincing argument to instill more trust in their platform and identification system than in the existing government and established methods of identification. 

Five days after its launch it came under scrutiny in France .“The legality of [Worldcoin’s data] collection seems questionable, as do the conditions for storing biometric data,” a CNIL spokesperson confirmed according to the reports. 

Worldcoin says its data collection including The World Coin Eye Scan and World Coin Orb is based on blockchain technology. Every blockchain is made of nodes. Nodes are generally computer systems that contain a copy of a blockchain’s primary protocol and its entire transaction history.

One of the key advantages of blockchain technology is its ability to create immutable records. Once a transaction is recorded on the blockchain, it becomes unchangeable and permanent, ensuring a transparent and secure record of all transactions.

Altman seems to be unfazed by the criticism he is receiving. In a tweet post he said Worldcoin may or may not work out similar to any really ambitious project but he won’t stop trying because this is how progress happens. 

“in either case, we especially love our haters, it gives us energy, please keep it coming!” he exaggerated. 

This also brings us to question, if we should simply trust Altman’s vision of the world he is trying to create? While many associate AI with a dystopian future, Altman doesn’t completely share that belief. Altman regularly talks about AI being the next revolution, and how it is going to take away jobs. 

Altman is looking at a utopian society, where no one will be impacted because of AI, and would reap the benefits of technological progress. Two years back in a blog post, Altman  wrote “we need technology to create more wealth, and policy to fairly distribute it.” According to Altman’s piece titled “Moore’s Law for Everything,” AI has the potential to create enough wealth to provide every adult in the U.S. with $13,500 per year within a decade.