Worldcoin Creates Global Identity Network Similar to India's Aadhaar with Iris Scanner

Worldcoin, wants to create a global identity and financial network (photo: twitter @worldcoin)

JAKARTA - More than 2.4 million people have signed up to have their irises scanned with Worldcoin's "orb" device in exchange for free digital IDs and cryptocurrency, ignoring privacy advocates' concerns that the database could be misused.

Worldcoin, founded by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, says its goal is to create a global identity and finance network, demonstrating on its website a range of ambitious use cases. This includes differentiating between humans and artificial intelligence bots as well as providing a means to distribute a universal basic income (UBI).

The company's head of product, Tiago Sada, told Reuters the company was seeking to replicate India's Aadhaar system, which assigns a unique identification number, and records individuals' fingerprints, faces and iris scans.

"A very good analogy for the kind of impact that something like Worldcoin could have is the Aadhaar project in India," said Sada, the company's head of product, engineering and design, quoted by VOI from Reuters.

Various regulators, including in the United Kingdom and Germany, have said they are investigating Worldcoin after it launched in July.