Worldcoin,theprojectco-foundedbyOpenAICEOSamAltman,isbrandingto‘World’andlaunchinganewversionofitscontroversialiris-scanningOrb.
Altman,alongsideToolsforHumanityCEOAlexBlania,introducedtherebrandingandupdatestoitsWorldIDandWorldAppduringakeynotepresentationonThursday.
“Weknowitsoundscrazy,butitisthatWorldcoinasthenamejustdoesn\'tworkanymore,”Blaniasaid.“Startingtoday,whathasbeencalledWorldcoinwillbejustcalledWorld.”
AccordingtoAltman,theredesignedOrbhas30%fewerpartsandtripletheproductioncapacityofitspredecessor.PoweredbyNVIDIA’sJetson,thenewOrbcanperformAIoperationsfivetimesfasterthanearliermodels.
“ThisenablesthenewOrbtoexecutesophisticatedAImodelsthatprovehumannessandoperateentirelyondeviceandevenfasterthanbefore,”Altmansaid.“ThenewOrbwasbuiltwithmoretransparencyandtheabilitytoauditthecodethat\'srunningonit.”
Withbotsfloodingtheinternet,ToolsforHumanitydesignedtheiris-scanningOrbsasawayforpeopletoprovetheyactuallyexisted.
ThefirstOrbswereplacedinBerlin,Germany.Inadditiontoproviding“proofofpersonhood”inlimitedregions,theOrbsalsogaveaccesstotheWorldcointoken.
LaunchedinJuly2023byToolsforHumanity,theWorldOrbsweremetwithfascinationandscorn,asprivacyadvocatescalleditasurveillancetool.Shortlyafteritslaunch,FranceandGermanyopenedinvestigationsintotheprojectanditsOrbs.
AltmanandBlaniahavesoughttoresolvefutureissuesbyimplementingfeaturesdesignedtoassuageregulators’andpolicymakers’concerns.
“IthasafullyremovableSDcardthatcontainsalltheoperatinginstructionssothatanyonecancomparethoseinstructionsontheSDcardversusourpublishedsourcecode.”
InMarch,inresponsetoprivacyconcerns,AltmanannouncedtheOrb’scorecomponentswouldbecomeopen-source,withitscodepublishedonGitHubforpublicscrutiny.
InadditiontohardwareupdatestotheOrb,duringthepresentation,AltmanandBlaniaalsointroducedupdatestotheWorldIDandWorldapp.
“WorldIDwillbetheanonymoushumanlayerfortheinternet,”Blaniasaid.“Butthere\'salotofdetailsthatgointomakingthatactuallywork.”
AccordingtoToolsforHumanity,tobetterprotectusers\'securityandprivacy,WorldID3.0usesanonymizedmulti-partycomputationtostoreuserdataacrossmultipleparties.WorldIDwillalsosupportgovernment-issuedidentificationlikepassportsanddriver’slicenses.
VideoAIdeepfakeshavebecomeanincreasinglydangerousformofphishing,withhackerscreatingfakeimagesofCEOsandmanagerstodupeunsuspectingvictims.Tothataffect,Worldisintroducinganewfeaturecalled\"DeepFace.\"
Thetoolwillcomparereal-timeandstoredimagestoverifyauser’sidentity,ensuringthatthepersoninteractingwiththeOrbisthesamepersonwhoinitiallysignedup.ToolsforHumanitysaidDeepFaceiscompatiblewithpopularvideocallapps,includingFaceTime,WhatsApp,andZoom.
TheWorldAppisalsoreceivingnewupdates,includinganew“mini-apps”tabthatallowsuserstodownloadthird-partyapplications.Userswillbeabletosearchforothersbyusernameorconnectwiththeircontactlists.
ToolsforHumanityHeadofProductTiagoSadahighlightedtheapp’sbroadaccessibility,includingsupportforoveradozenlanguagesandmorethan50currencies,aswellasitscompatibilitywitholder-generationmobilephones.
“Ifyouwanttobuildanetworkthatcanreacheveryone,youhaveanapp,”Sadasaid.“Youneedtohaveanappthatworksforeveryone.”
EditedbySebastianSinclair
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