Sam Altman of OpenAI Kickstarts the Worldcoin Revolution
In a significant stride towards the future, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, unveiled the ground-breaking cryptocurrency project, Worldcoin, on Monday. With its unique proposition, Worldcoin seeks to revolutionize the way we interact with technology, positioning itself as the foundation for a potentially futuristic society.
At the core of the project lies the World ID, aptly described as a ‘digital passport’. It is intended to be the key distinguishing tool that authenticates the identity of a real human being, differentiating them from AI bots. The fascinating process of acquiring a World ID involves the use of Worldcoin’s ‘orb’, a silver sphere about the size of a bowling ball. This device, once it confirms a person’s authenticity through an iris scan, successfully assigns them a unique World ID.
Behind Worldcoin is “Tools for Humanity”, a company with its roots spread across San Francisco and Berlin. From the outset, the project has witnessed encouraging growth. Its beta phase saw a considerable user base of 2 million, which is expected to expand with Worldcoin’s official launch. The project is set to increase its “orbing” operations to an impressive 35 cities in 20 countries, enticing potential users in specific regions with its WLD cryptocurrency tokens.
Trading on the renowned Binance exchange platform, WLD experienced a noticeable surge in its price on Monday. The trading day’s peak witnessed the token valued at $5.29, before stabilizing at $2.49 by 1000 GMT, up from a modest starting price of $0.15. The day saw a remarkable $25.1 million in trading volume, as reported on Binance’s official website.
World IDs have been designed with the utmost regard for privacy, with blockchain technology ensuring they remain impervious to unauthorized control or shutdown. Co-founder Alex Blania highlighted this in his conversation with Reuters. The advent of highly sophisticated AI chatbots like ChatGPT, producing eerily human-like interactions, has made the distinction between humans and bots increasingly challenging. World IDs, therefore, are poised to become indispensable tools in identifying the real from the artificial online.
Altman, in his chat with Reuters, emphasized how Worldcoin could become a crucial piece of the puzzle in the economic transformation triggered by generative AI. “AI will be a significant force in driving economic change,” he noted, adding that he sees the concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a possible way to address income inequality in an AI-dominated world. As World IDs will only be assigned to real individuals, the possibility of fraud when implementing UBI programs could be substantially reduced.
Altman admitted his vision of a UBI-centric world is still “a distant dream”, with no clear idea of who would oversee such monetary distribution. However, he emphasized that Worldcoin’s launch could pave the way for such a future to unfold.