Sam Altman’s eye-scanning orb lands in UK to fight Deepfakes and reward you with Crypto

OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman has now brought his ambitious eye-scanning project to the United Kingdom. The initiative, referred to as World (previously Worldcoin), utilizes a glossy, orb-like gadget named the Orb to scan individuals’ irises and create a distinct digital ID to verify their humanity – distinguishing them from bots or deepfakes.

Beginning this week, individuals in London will begin to see the orb in various high street stores and shopping centers. Over the next few months, the launch will widen to include Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Belfast, and Glasgow, as stated in a Bloomberg report. It has been reported that the company intends to partner with various retailers in the nation to set up self-service Orbs, functioning similarly to standalone ATMs.

The system operates in this manner: you gaze into the Orb, which captures images of your iris and face, subsequently creating a distinct “World ID” that verifies your “humanness.” This World ID allows users to access applications like Telegram, Minecraft, Reddit, and Discord while keeping personal information private. In addition, users receive some units of the project’s cryptocurrency, Worldcoin (WLD), as a reward.

World is run by Tools for Humanity, a startup co-founded by Altman in 2019. The firm states its goal is to tackle an increasing concern: how can we determine who is genuine online, particularly as artificial intelligence – like Altman’s ChatGPT – simplifies the process of impersonating individuals?

In an interview Adrian Ludwig, who is the chief architect at Tools for Humanity, said the project is moving from a “science project to a real network,” with growing demand from both governments and companies. “The idea is no longer just theoretical. It’s something that’s real and affecting them every single day,” Ludwig said.

Still, World’s strategy has sparked concerns worldwide. Privacy authorities in Germany, Argentina, and Kenya have initiated inquiries. Spain and Hong Kong have completely prohibited the project, while South Korea has recently imposed a fine exceeding $800,000 on the company for privacy infringements.

Tools for Humanity claims it does not retain personal or biometric information. It states that the iris scans are transformed into an encrypted code, and the original images are promptly discarded. The user’s World ID is subsequently saved locally on their device. Ludwig claims this enhances the system’s safety and privacy compared to others. Aadhaar is a comparable idea that keeps individuals’ biometric data linked to a unique identification for every person; it has encountered numerous data breaches over time.

Presently, it is said that approximately 1,500 Orbs are in circulation worldwide, yet the company seemingly plans to deliver an additional 12,000 within the coming year. The UK’s rollout comes after the Orb made its debut in six US cities, such as San Francisco, Miami, and Atlanta, in May 2025, where individuals queued to trade their iris scans for cryptocurrency and digital identities.