The rush for a digital ID that scans the user’s eyes

Sam Altman is the man behind the popular AI chatbot GPT. Now he has launched a new project – Worldcoin.

The reason, according to Sam Altman, is that since the Internet’s inception in 1983, there have been problems verifying people’s identities online. With his Worldcoin, he says he hopes to address that issue. The project is above all a cryptocurrency, but it is a digital identity called World ID and can be described as a mobile bank ID for a crypto wallet.

At the time of WorldCoin’s launch, there was a lot of interest in the new service and in a short period of time it received about two million registrations.

According to SVT Worldcoin’s ultimate goal is to create a currency system that paves the way for an AI-funded universal basic income, i.e., a fixed salary for all people regardless of work environment.

“Worldcoin is an attempt at global adaptation, and the journey will be challenging and the outcome uncertain,” writes Sam Altman with co-founder Alex Plania. In an open letter on the company’s website. WorldCoin uses biometric data in the form of the owner’s iris to ensure that the right people have access to the coin in the wallet. By March, during the app’s trial period, 450,000 eye scans had already been completed in exchange for a digital ID.

Stephen Axelson, Prof Digital Forensics and Cyber ​​Security, Warns in SVT For many problems with the method used by Worldcoin.

– One problem is that it doesn’t actually check your iris, but some kind of electronic representation of it via a sensor. And then the problem is, if it gets hacked and your data gets leaked, you can’t exchange that data, he tells SVT.

– You only have ten fingerprints and two eyes.

Developer means itself They use different identification methods including phone number verification. But the security systems behind Worldcoin has already raised concerns, among others by collecting more resumes than officially stated. Worldcoin has raised questions when users in certain countries are offered cryptocurrency in exchange for using the app.

There is also concern among some Christians that this system will lead to the control society the Bible speaks of.

Worldcoin recently launched in Kenya, where 350,000 people have already signed up. Authorities are investigating the security risks. Reuters reported. Similar reviews have been reported in Great Britain, Germany and France.