Sam Altman’s World Launches New Mobile Verification Device
▼ Summary
– Tools for Humanity has launched the Orb Mini, a handheld device designed to verify human identity using advanced eye-scanning sensors, addressing the challenge of distinguishing humans from AI online.
– The Orb Mini, introduced by Chief Device Officer Rich Heley, is a smartphone-shaped tool that establishes cryptographic proof of identity through iris recognition, differing from conventional mobile devices focused on communication.
– The World initiative, co-founded by Sam Altman, aims to provide robust identity verification systems as AI becomes more indistinguishable from humans, using blockchain-based identifiers for verified individuals.
– Designed by Thomas Meyerhoff, the Orb Mini focuses on accessibility and hints at future applications like mobile payments and licensing the technology to other manufacturers.
– The launch aligns with World’s U.S. expansion, opening verification centers in six major cities, and builds on a global user base of 26 million signups and 12 million verified users, primarily in developing markets.
The future of online identity verification takes a mobile leap forward with the launch of a new handheld device from Tools for Humanity, the company behind the World project co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman. This compact scanner aims to solve one of the web’s most pressing challenges – reliably distinguishing humans from artificial intelligence in digital spaces.
During a recent San Francisco event, Rich Heley, Tools for Humanity’s Chief Device Officer and former Apple executive, introduced the Orb Mini, a smartphone-shaped verification tool featuring advanced eye-scanning sensors. Unlike conventional mobile devices, its primary function isn’t communication but rather establishing cryptographic proof of human identity through iris recognition.
The World initiative, originally called Worldcoin, operates on a simple yet ambitious premise: as AI becomes indistinguishable from people online, we’ll need robust systems to confirm who’s real. By scanning users’ eyes with either their signature Orbs or the new portable Mini version, the platform assigns each verified individual a unique blockchain-based identifier.
Designed by former Apple talent Thomas Meyerhoff, the Orb Mini prioritizes accessibility over multifunctionality – at least for now. Company representatives hint at potential future applications, including mobile payment processing and licensing the scanning technology to third-party manufacturers.
This launch coincides with World’s U.S. expansion, featuring physical verification centers opening in six major cities. The project already boasts 26 million global signups with 12 million verified users, primarily concentrated in developing markets. The American push signals strategic growth into more technologically advanced economies.
While details remain scarce about the Orb Mini’s technical specifications, its introduction suggests World is doubling down on hardware solutions for digital identity. The device’s relationship to Altman’s work at OpenAI remains an open question, particularly as both organizations explore AI-related hardware innovations. What’s clear is that as artificial intelligence grows more sophisticated, Tools for Humanity is betting that biometric verification will become as commonplace as smartphones in our connected world.
(Source: TechCrunch)
