By: Richard Zhao
Last month, cryptocurrency company Tools for Humanity released a new tool for cryptocurrency user identification: metal spheres that scan people’s eyeballs.
The gadget, launched as part of the Worldcoin project, contains a camera that records images of a person’s irises. These images are then converted into numbers which serve as a new way of identifying users. Tools for Humanity plans to generate revenue by promoting this new identification system as an alternative to other security methods, like CAPTCHA tests.
Worldcoin’s eventual goal is to scan billions of eyeballs. After billions of people are registered within the iris identification system, there will be enough users to form a new currency. Using that currency, money could be easily distributed to users. The project aims to protect people who could lose jobs from A.I. and establish a form of universal basic income. As A.I. takes over jobs, people can enjoy the benefits of A.I. doing the work through a basic income instead of suffering from losing their job. Iris identification allows the universal basic income system to distinguish real people from online bots.
Conflicts have arisen about the way Tools for Humanity collects and handles data, however. Last month, French and German authorities said that they were investigating how Worldcoin uses collected data. The government of Kenya has also ordered Tools for Humanity to cease their scans because of a “lack of clarity” in the way the company handles sensitive information. “They’re asking us to believe them, to trust them,” said Andrew Bailey, a crypto expert at Yale-NUS College. “I don’t think I should have to trust anyone like that when it comes to sensitive information.”
Despite potential breaches of privacy, most users simply did not care. “Privacy doesn’t even exist anymore,” said Lawrence Yan, a 25-year-old who works in the crypto industry. He further elaborated that he was completely willing to let his eyeballs be scanned “for the meme.”
Additionally, dozens of cryptocurrency fans showed up to a party in Manhattan to celebrate the launch of Worldcoin.
Tools for Humanity hopes that one day, the profits of A.I. work will be “redistributed with society.” Alex Blania, the chief executive of the company, explains. “What Worldcoin does is it gives everyone, not just people in Europe or the United States, an identity, and it gives them a way to be economically reachable.” The company hopes that one day, digital currency, combined with a new identification method, will be gain a new purpose.