Verify You Are Not a Robot: Inside Worldcoin & the Online World

Stepping into the Digital Age with the Launch of Worldcoin

On July 24, Worldcoin came to life -a cryptocurrency project, founded by Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO. Even though created earlier this year, the project's growth is showing significant impact.

Okay, but What Is Worldcoin?

Worldcoin was born to serve as a "digital password"; a verification tool that proves that you are, in fact, a real human and not a robot. As Worldcoin states, it "is intended to be the world's largest identity and financial public network, open to everyone regardless of their country, background, or economic status." It will allow everyone to have their own World ID, with which you can also access your Worldcoin token through the Worldcoin app, enabling you to make purchases and transfer any currency, be it digital and traditional.

Lost Yet? Introducing the World ID and the Orb

How will it all work? How can I establish that I am, well, actually me? The key is your World ID. Consider this your ID card for the digital world which, from January to July, more than 2 million people have registered to get.

With the help of the Orb, "an imaging device that verifies you are a real and unique person who has not previously received a World ID," your iris pattern will be read. Worldcoin operators around the world will be responsible for using the Orb and reading users' iris patterns.

Those Behind Worldcoin

As mentioned earlier, the mastermind behind all of this is Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, but the company building it is called The Worldcoin Foundation, with the help of Tools for Humanity, also co-founded by Altman. The company now plans to roll out scanning operations in multiple cities, currently available in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Paris, Lisbon, Mexico City, S?o Paulo, Nairobi, New York, San Francisco, and 25 other cities around the world.

Conclusions

Worldcoin is definitely something to keep exploring. The project itself has received its fair amount of criticism since its creation, from privacy matters to questionable methods. There's no doubt Worldcoin is far from getting worldwide approval and usage.

MIT Tech Review claimed that they have used "deceptive marketing practices, collected more personal data than it acknowledged, and failed to obtain meaningful informed consent."

Nonetheless, the growth of AI doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon, and better human validation methods will be needed one way or another. Maybe Worldcoin per se won't be the answer, but if we were surprised with ChatGPT, imagine the developments we will be able to see in the future.

Is Worldcoin the solution? Is it just too soon? Maybe, but we will surely stay updated.