An AI Company Offered $73 to Scan My Eyes
Can you put a price on the unique biometric data in your iris?
Who hasn’t heard about Worldcoin? A global biometric cryptocurrency project currently collecting data from the human iris to (allegedly) facilitate online identity authentication.
Last year, I started seeing these futuristic stalls pop up like mushrooms on train stations and shopping malls here in Portugal.
The centerpiece of the stall was always a futuristic sci-fi sphere sitting on a pedestal.
The first time I noticed these clusters of people gathering around the device, I was perusing a mall in Porto. Glancing at all the commotion, I couldn’t help but wonder why everyone was taking turns to look into this all-seeing eye.
I had no clue about what was happening, so I decided to look up the brand name on Google:
“Worldcoin.”
The Worldcoin project was developed by Tools for Humanity, a company led by OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman.
In July 2023, the company began its rollout of 1,500 orbs. Several of those biometric scanners found their way to my country.
A Worldcoin Orb is a device that scans your iris and creates your unique World ID, a cryptographic identity that gives you…
