Sam Altman Brings Eyeball-Scanning Tech Effort to UK

Sam Altman’s digital ID firm, World, is reportedly bringing its eye-scanning tech to the U.K.

As the Financial Times (FT) reported Sunday (June 8), the goal is to let people in Great Britain access verification services the company argues are critical for distinguishing between human and artificial intelligence (AI).

World’s central product is an “orb” that scans a person’s eyeball to generate a digital ID that can access products and services online, along with the company’s Worldcoin cryptocurrency. According to the FT, the company will open several locations in London this week, following its American debt in April.

“The U.K. is certainly one of the more influential markets in the world . . . it punches well above its weight globally,” Adrian Ludwig, chief architect at Tools for Humanity, the main developer behind World, told the FT.

The British population, Ludwig added, “is significantly online, is already well aware of the impact AI is going to have and is having. In the U.K. over 75% of citizens speak to having been affected by AI on nearly a daily basis.”

The company contends that AI is approaching the point where it can credibly imitate real people, due in part to the world of firms like Altman’s OpenAI. World projects that within two years, roughly 90% of online content will be made by machines. It also argues that in many cases, it’s impossible to distinguish computers from people.

PYMNTS explored this topic in 2023 in the report “Is That Content Generated by AI or Humans? Hard to Tell,” a collaboration with AI-ID.

“As AI models grow in size and complexity, the ability to distinguish AI-produced content from human-sourced material becomes increasingly difficult,” that report said.

“The same can be said for fraud: The more sophisticated the model, the more challenging it is to spot fraudulent activity. However, exposing artificial content is worth the effort and is critical to the integrity and survival of industries and organizations that depend on authentic, trustworthy information.”

World’s efforts have drawn regulatory scrutiny in several countries due to privacy issues. Spain blocked the company last year, saying there were concerns that the company was collecting personal data of minors. The firm has also faced bans, fines or investigations in countries that include France, Portugal, Hong Kong and Kenya.

Despite these worries, research by PYMNTS Intelligence has found that a large portion of Americans have embraced biometric authentication tools, with more than half of consumers who shop online turning to biometric authentication to verify purchases.