OpenAI CEO launches his cryptocurrency, WorldCoin

Sam Altman, CEO of artificial intelligence company OpenAI, is set to launch his cryptocurrency project WorldCoin on Monday.

According to “Reuters”, the most important thing that the project offers is the global identity (World ID), which is an account that only humans can apply for, as it requires those who wish to create an account to register to perform an iris scan using World Coin technology called (Orbe), which is a silver ball about the size of a bowling ball. Once it is verified that the applicant is a real human being and not a “robot”, he will have a global identity

The company responsible for the World Coin project is (Tools for Humanity) based in San Francisco and Berlin.

The project saw more than two million registration requests for the global identity during its trial period. With the launch of WorldCoin on Monday, the scope of operations will expand to 35 cities in 20 countries. As a means of incentive, the company offers those who apply for registration in certain countries a token of the WorldCoin cryptocurrency (WLD).

Alex Plania, one of the founders, told Reuters that the cryptocurrency component of global identities is important because the blockchains on which cryptocurrency transactions and transfers depend can store global identities in a way that preserves privacy and cannot be controlled or closed by any single entity.

The project says the issue of global identities is necessary in an era when generative artificial intelligence bots such as ChatGBT, which can produce language that is strikingly similar to human speech, are becoming common. Global identities can be used to distinguish real people from online bots

Altman said WorldCoin could also help address how the economy is being reshaped by generative AI.

He continued, saying that the high demand for the use of artificial intelligence “will have huge economic repercussions.”

Altman gave an example with the issue of the existence of a universal basic income (UBI), which is a social welfare program usually run by governments in which everyone receives a minimum amount of money.

Altman believes that universal basic income can help combat income inequality as artificial intelligence takes on “more and more of the work that humans are now doing”, and since only humans will be able to obtain universal identities, this can reduce fraud when implementing basic income systems.

Altman said that he believes that the existence of a world that implements basic income is something “from the distant future” and indicated that he does not have a clear idea of ​​the entity that might implement it and distribute the money, but he believes that World Coin lays the groundwork for this to become a reality.

“We think we need to start exploring and experimenting to determine what we will do next,” he added.