The Worldcoin project to counter the threat of AI: Genius or danger to our freedoms?
The Worldcoin project has been an omnipresent topic of conversation, generating considerable buzz of late. Spearheaded by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, this unique concept involves having your iris scanned to receive the equivalent of $62 in WLD tokens. A victim of its own success, endless queues of people ready to have their irises scanned are forming all over the world. We tell you more about this incredible project:
What is Worldcoin?
Worldcoin's mission is to build a universal identity and financial network owned by the majority of humanity. The project consists of a digital identity protection network (World ID) based on proof of identity, and a digital currency (WLD), where permitted by law. Every human is entitled to a share of the WLD simply by virtue of being human. So you can have your iris scanned and be rewarded with a WLD token. Amazingly, it works, with people standing in line for up to six hours to get a few dollars' worth of tokens. World ID and WLD are complemented by World App, the first interface for World ID and the Worldcoin protocol.
What's special about this project?
The first thing that sets this project apart from others is its originality. No one has ever attempted such an ambitious and ethically challenging project. In addition to the well-known concepts of "Proof of Work" or "Proof of Stake", Worldcoin introduces a new concept: "Proof of Personhood". This is a key idea behind Worldcoin that aims to establish that an individual is both human and unique, distinguishing him or her from robots and generative AIs. If successful within Worldcoin, World ID could become a global standard for proof of personhood.
How does it work?
The system works thanks to World ID and its privacy-preserving "Proof of Personhood" (PoP). This allows users to verify their personhood online while preserving their privacy with zero-knowledge proof, using a customized biometric device called the Orb. The Orb is an iris scan system that determines your identity and uniqueness. To interact with the Worldcoin protocol, individuals must first download the World App, the first wallet app to support the creation of a World ID.
What's the point of such a project?
According to its founder, "Worldcoin could dramatically increase economic opportunity, scale a reliable solution for distinguishing humans from AI online, while preserving privacy".
Worldcoin aims to promote global equality of opportunity by fostering a future where anyone, anywhere can participate in the global digital economy through a universally accessible decentralized financial and identity infrastructure. This would also enable near-instantaneous and borderless money transfers on a global scale accessible to all. The goal is also to reduce fraud and the various dangers associated with Internet insecurity.
Worldcoin's other goal is to counter the growing threat of AI, a technology that Sam Altman is actively involved in developing. This identity verification is essential to distinguish humans from generative AIs.
What are the potential risks of this project?
The Worldcoin project is causing concern in the crypto sphere. Vitalik Buterin, founder of the Ethereum network, has raised numerous concerns about PoP and shared his opinion on the subject in a document he shared on X (ex-Twitter): What do I think about biometric proof of personhood?
According to him, the project poses 4 major risks:
Privacy. The iris scan registry can reveal information. At the very least, if someone else scans your iris, they can compare it to the database to determine whether or not you have a global ID card. Possibly, iris scans can reveal more information.
Accessibility. World IDs won't be reliably accessible unless there are so many Orbs that anyone in the world can easily get one.
Centralization. The Orb is a hardware device, and we have no way of verifying that it was built correctly and does not contain backdoors. The Worldcoin Foundation still has the ability to insert a backdoor into the system, allowing it to create any number of fake human identities, even if the software layer is perfect and fully decentralized.
Security. Users' phones could be hacked, users could be forced to scan their irises while presenting a public key that belongs to someone else, and it's possible to 3D print "fake people" who can pass the iris scanner and obtain World IDs.
Sam Altman's Worldcoin project is the talk of the town, inspiring enthusiasm in some, and danger in others. The question remains: what will the future bring in terms of digitized biometrics? Will we lose power and freedom or, on the contrary, will it make our lives easier? Do you think such a device is essential to counter the threat of AI? Tell us what you think.