It is a small spherical object a little less big than a football, which arouses both curiosity and mistrust around the world. It is easier to make an appointment with “The Orb” than with the ophthalmologist. A slot emerges from one day to the next. Thursday, 9 a.m. The object, designed by the company Tools for Humanity, co-founded by Sam Altman, the creator of the artificial intelligence cardboard ChatGPT, rests on a corner of the table of a discreet café-coworking in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. Tom*, 23, runs the operations, his job for the summer. You must first download the World App application, he explains, before launching an authentication request. A QR code is displayed on the screen, which is presented to the intriguing machine. After accepting the terms of use – this may take some time, we’ll come back to this – the last step is to place your eyes in front of those of the sphere, carried at arm’s length by Marie, Tom’s colleague. About ten seconds later, a few flashing lights appear, as during a contactless payment. The World App grinds a moment longer. A kind of badge is emerging. We are the owner of an identifier. An encrypted digital code based on a scanner of our iris, unique to everyone, which constitutes biometric data that could not be more reliable, 10,000 times more than facial recognition. Temperature sensors and eye tracking are also taken into account, so that clever little ones cannot subject their dog or cat to it. The free service is strictly reserved for humans. As a bonus, World App rewards the wallet with a handful of cryptocurrency tokens called Worldcoin, imagined as the vehicle for a universal basic income on a human scale. We blow. And now ?
For the moment, not much. Tools for Humanity offers the integration of its “World ID” to anyone who wants it. However, only Okta, an online identification specialist, has taken the plunge on the web. The World App already claims 2.2 million irises scanned since the start of its global campaign on July 24. But that’s only about 0.03% of the world’s population. If the figures swell – a person would pass in front of the orb every eight seconds -, the system could then impose itself as a gateway for social networks, like Twitter, in order to avoid fake accounts, imagines Tom. In fact, for anything that requires strong authentication. Why not, one day, in order to vote in a presidential election.
Basically, the project meets the wishes of a reliable and secure digital identity, a subject on which many world governments, including France, are working. Worldcoin is even a little more than that in the eyes of its followers. “In a world dominated by AI, this identifier will be very useful in order to differentiate yourself from a robot”, estimates Tom, the young operator of Worldcoin, blandly taking up the phrasing of his employer. Which, despite the spectacular progress of recent years, seems a little anticipated. Let’s face it, downright dystopian. Can Sam Altman decently be the source of the problem and the bearer of its resolution? In a difficult economic context, Tools for Humanity raised more than 100 million dollars in the spring, from prestigious investors including the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
“I missed Bitcoin”
Ousmane, originally from Senegal, plants his face in front of the orb. He comes above all for cryptocurrency. He talks at length about the promises of these digital tokens free of intermediaries, in countries with few banks and shaken by high inflation, particularly in Africa. More than 138% in Sudan, 104% in Zimbabwe, 31% in Ghana or 27% in Sierra Leone, in 2022, according to the World Bank. Several cryptos are already trading on the continent, but Ousmane sees Worldcoin and its global ambitions as one of the most encouraging solutions going forward. The price of Worldcoin is currently sailing below two dollars. Its capitalization remains very low: 230 million dollars. Still very far from the 500 billion bitcoin, the queen of cryptos. But it has the merit, thanks to the scans, of recruiting more and more followers. Some see in this, in parallel, the possibility of quick gains. A fifty-something, commercial in fruits and vegetables, returns the inhabited look in the cafe. “I missed the Bitcoin, I don’t want to miss the Worldcoin!”.
The orb has just scanned the iris and is about to load the corresponding ID.
© / MR
The fear of missing an opportunity, the FoMo, guides many instincts to the orb. “I love new technologies too much not to try,” says a 30-year-old dressed in a cream-colored shirt. It’s the visitor’s composite portrait: a man, connected to tech, AI, crypto, blockchain, Web3. The young Orwellian project of Tools for Humanity benefits from a wide promotion within this fauna which it touches in one way or another, by its creator, the techniques deployed, its crazy promises (in every sense of the term). “This is the very large majority of the 500 to 600 passages”, in Paris, since July 24, the official launch date of Worldcoin, confirms Marie. The first target. That of “we’ll see”.
First hiccups
Most visitors encountered near the orb are aware of the risks associated with this seemingly painless action. They read the criticisms of Edward Snowden, an expert on surveillance. The countless caveats. “The legality of data collection seems questionable, as do the storage conditions for biometric data”, recently warned the French personal data policeman, the CNIL, which opened an investigation jeopardizing the future of Worldcoin on the market. territory, even before its deployment in the provinces. Germany, the United Kingdom and Argentina also see the project with a bad eye. In Kenya, the authorities simply halted the Tools for Humanity campaign, despite the incentives being much higher, the equivalent of 45 euros, generating massive queues in the capital Nairobi. In Indonesia, officials are concerned about intrusive scans, not limited to the iris.
In the poorest countries, the haste, amateurism and intrusiveness of Worldcoin no longer inspire confidence. The firm, however, has no choice but to be irreproachable. “We recognize that we can fulfill our mission of distributing digital tokens fairly to as many people as possible only if people trust us,” reads black and white in the Terms of usespread over four pages.
In Paris, Tom and Marie want to reassure. The image of the iris taken by the orb is immediately erased as soon as the identifier is created, they specify. It is certainly possible to entrust the photo of his face and shoulders, but only to improve the algorithm behind the machine. Nothing mandatory. But Worldcoin, they admit, does not address issues of theft and usurpation in any way. And of course, hacking. No one is infallible. Much less a business. Vulnerabilities would thus have been detected on the machine, according to a report dated end of July from cybersecurity Least Authority, or from the operators themselves, according to an article by the American media Techcrunch.
The prospect of leaving his iris, unchangeable unlike a password, at the mercy of fraudulent uses, however, does not make the first guinea pigs shiver. “I know it’s not terrible. But what do you want, I’ve already sent my saliva to the United States for a DNA test, I have no more secrets”, laughs the young man at the cream shirt. “Doesn’t that scare you a little?”, we ask a final quidam entering the cafe. “Not particularly,” he shrugs, making it clear that biometrics allow him to unlock his state-of-the-art iPhone. Nowadays, technology asks to obey it at the fingertips. And why not, now, by eye?
*All names mentioned in the article have been changed