World Network, the digital identity and crypto project of Sam Altman’s OpenAI, has alarmed privacy activists ahead of its United States launch, with observers concerned over its data collection and protection practices.
World “is the opposite of privacy. It’s a trap,” said Nick Almond, CEO of FactoryDAO, on X. While the project claims to protect user privacy in the age of proliferating AI, it’s faced a slew of regulatory concerns across the globe.
Formerly known as “Worldcoin,” the iris-scanning technology and its crypto token payout scheme are being probed by authorities in India, South Korea, Italy, Colombia, Argentina, Portugal, Kenya and Indonesia. In Spain, Hong Kong and Brazil, it’s outright banned.
World’s latest foray into the US could prove to be CEO Sam Altman’s biggest challenge yet, where privacy concerns are heightened by a patchwork of enforcement that differs state by state.
Varying privacy laws could leave World