Who Decides If You’re Human?
The Controversial Rise of WORLD ID, AI and Digital Identity
I’ve been obsessing over this question lately. How do we prove we’re human in a world where AI can mimic us with frightening accuracy? It’s not just a philosophical musing anymore. It’s actually becoming a real existential challenge for the internet itself.
A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon WORLD Network (formerly Worldcoin) and I fell down a deep rabbit hole. Their approach to what they call “human authentication” sounded too interesting to ignore. And so what started as casual research quickly turned into a 4-hour deep dive that challenged how I think about my digital identity.
The Orb, the ID, and the Brave New Digital World
At the centre of WORLD’s system is this chrome spherical device called the“Orb” that scans your irises to verify you’re a real person. I’m not gonna lie, when I first saw it, it gave me proper Black Mirror vibes.
The company claims the device creates a cryptographic “IrisHash” and then deletes your biometric data, giving you a “World ID” that proves you’re human without revealing your actual identity.
Now, you might think, “What the heck? You want me to let some random company scan my eyeballs? No way!” And I don’t blame you. This reaction isn’t uncommon, and it highlights the visceral privacy concerns that come with biometric verification.
But here’s where it gets interesting. The technology isn’t just about eyeball scanning. It’s built on some genuinely innovative cryptography called zero-knowledge proofs. In simple terms, this allows you to prove something is true without revealing any underlying data.
So, theoretically, you could prove you’re human without exposing your identity or personal details.
Tiago Sada’s Vision
The more I researched, the more I understood why Tiago Sada, the project’s Chief Product Officer, believes this is so urgent. In several interviews, he comes across as genuinely concerned about our collective digital future rather than just another tech bro chasing the next big thing.
What many people don’t realise is that WORLD was co-founded by Sam Altman. Yes, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. Along with co-founder Alex Blania, they established Tools for Humanity in 2019, well before ChatGPT became a household name.
I must admit that there’s a certain irony here.
One of the leading figures pushing the boundaries of AI is simultaneously building a system to help us distinguish humans from AI. It speaks volumes about how AI insiders recognise the verification challenges their own technology is creating.
“Tools for Humanity was started as a company that would build, as the name implies, tools to help humans thrive in the age of AI,” Sada explains.
His vision stems from a fundamental problem;
“When you think about the internet, it’s all one way or another built on trust,” he continues, “and I think like while AI is amazing and it is one of the most wonderful things we will have ever invented… it does come with new challenges and one of those challenges is like we don’t know what is a human and what is not anymore.”
And he’s not wrong, is he?
We’ve all seen those suspiciously perfect AI-generated profile pics on social media or encountered bot armies in comment sections. Sada frames this as nothing short of an existential threat to online trust. “What is at risk if we can’t tell what’s real on the internet anymore? In short, everything.”
It sounds dramatic until you really think about it. But after reading WORLD’s whitepaper, I can see they’ve been contemplating this problem since 2019.
The document explains that “proof of human is a missing and necessary digital primitive. This primitive will become more important as increasingly powerful AI models become available.” They argue that custom biometric hardware may be “the only long term viable solution to issue AI-safe proof of human verifications.”
The Ethics Quagmire
But here’s where I struggle. Is scanning people’s eyeballs really the answer? From a strictly technical perspective, WORLD ID offers some compelling advantages:
🤖 Bot detection: Imagine never dealing with ticket-scalping bots again. According to Sada, “When you start looking thing by thing by thing on the internet in something as simple as like Taylor Swift concert tickets right you want that to go to fans not to bots.”
💸 Financial inclusion: The WORLD App also functions as a digital wallet, potentially bringing banking services to the unbanked. Their whitepaper claims users can “save digital money, starting with USDC by Circle, with shortcuts to deposit and withdraw using bank accounts or local payment methods.”
🕶️ Preventing cyber attacks: In decentralised systems, bad actors often create multiple fake identities to manipulate outcomes, like stuffing a ballot box. A reliable proof of personhood could stop this. The whitepaper explicitly frames this as “crucial elements of modern society, including subsidies and social welfare, can be rendered more equitably by employing proof of human.”
♻️ Developer ecosystem: Hundreds of companies are apparently building applications using WORLD ID verification. This could enable entirely new services that weren’t possible before, from fraud-resistant promotions to secure voting systems.
But What Are The Downsides?
I think there are numerous, and they can’t be easily ignored:
Privacy nightmares: In April 2025, the Spanish Data Protection Agency ordered Worldcoin to erase all iris scan data collected during its operations after determining the venture breached European Union privacy laws. This wasn’t just a slap on the wrist. It was a serious regulatory action that highlighted fundamental privacy concerns.
Exploitation risks: The project has faced accusations of exploiting vulnerable populations, particularly in developing countries. A 2022 MIT Technology Review investigation revealed questionable recruitment practices, including payments to local officials in Indonesia that potentially violated anti-corruption laws. Critics have questioned whether the project’s approach to data collection disproportionately targets economically vulnerable communities.
Security vulnerabilities: Reports in 2023 indicated that hackers had stolen login credentials from several Worldcoin operators’ personal devices. While the company claimed no personal user data was compromised, the incident raised serious questions about their security infrastructure.
Centralisation of what it means to be “human”: Perhaps most philosophically troubling is the idea that a single private entity could become the arbiter of who counts as “human” online. That’s an extraordinary amount of power to concentrate in one place.
To their credit, the WORLD whitepaper acknowledges these concerns. They outline a decentralisation roadmap that includes plans to distribute Orb manufacturing and operations across different entities, make more components open source, and implement governance mechanisms that involve the community.
I appreciate this transparency, but for me, the question remains. Can they actually deliver on these promises?
Broader Implications
I don’t believe these are minor concerns. They cut to the heart of the power imbalance in who gets to define and control our “humanity”. The debate around WORLD ID reflects broader tensions in how we approach technology governance, such as:
How do we balance the need for new solutions against the risks of moving too quickly?
Can a single verification system appropriately serve diverse global populations with different cultural norms and regulatory environments?
Should core internet infrastructure be controlled by private companies or public institutions?
Still, part of me wonders… If not this, then what?
As Sada argues, World ID is “the only fundamental way of solving the problem and a way to do it anonymously which we think is incredibly important to preserve freedom on the internet.”
The “prove you’re human” problem isn’t going away. CAPTCHA tests are laughably obsolete against modern AI. Government ID verification creates privacy nightmares. And doing nothing means surrendering more of our online spaces to bots and deepfakes.
Looking into WORLD’s whitepaper, I was surprised to see they’d actually done a comprehensive analysis of alternatives. They evaluated online accounts (email, phone), official ID verification (KYC), web of trust systems, and social graph analysis.
And their conclusion?
None of these approaches can effectively verify uniqueness on a global scale with the level of accuracy needed. They make a technical case that iris biometrics is “the only modality that can fulfil all essential requirements.”
Looking Beyond the Tech
What fascinates me most is how WORLD ID embodies the central tension in modern tech ethics that is innovation vs caution, convenience vs privacy, and centralisation vs autonomy.
There are no easy answers here, and my own journey with this topic has been anything but straightforward.
When I heard about WORLD ID, I was intrigued but very sceptical. The idea of scanning biometrics for online verification seemed excessive. But the more I’ve learned about the actual problems they’re trying to solve and the privacy mechanisms they’ve built, the more I’ve questioned my initial reaction.
The whitepaper outlines several key privacy protections that impressed me:
Users don’t have to provide any personal information (no emails, names, phone numbers) to register.
Image custody is optional, with end-to-end encryption.
The Orb processes data locally with no images stored unless users explicitly opt-in.
And perhaps most importantly, they use zero-knowledge proofs so that when someone proves they’re human, no third party ever sees their World ID or can track them across applications.
For all its flaws, I believe the project is forcing us to confront difficult questions about our digital identity and verification in the age of AI. And that conversation, however uncomfortable is one we desperately need to have.
WORLD’s U.S. Launch and Orb Mini
As I was researching for this article, I came across a major announcement by WORLD on 1st May 2025. They announced their expansion to the United States alongside their groundbreaking “Orb Mini” which is a portable verification device that could increase their capacity tenfold by putting the technology directly in people’s hands.
Their ambitious plan includes deploying 7,500 Orbs across the US within two years. They’ve also introduced “Deep Face technology” to combat deepfakes and released World App 4.0, a comprehensive “super app for humans in the age of AI”. It integrates verified identity with financial and social tools.
The timing is strategic. They want to bring their verification system to “the epicentre of AI innovation” when distinguishing humans from AI has become increasingly critical.
One thing’s for certain.
The line between human and machine online is blurring, and we need thoughtful solutions before that line disappears entirely. WORLD ID might not be the perfect answer, but it’s forcing a conversation we can no longer afford to ignore.
The whitepaper concludes with a point that resonates with me.
“Whether World Network ultimately succeeds in its vision of creating a global standard for human verification remains to be seen, but the questions it raises about identity, privacy, and human-machine distinction will undoubtedly shape our digital future.”
I’d encourage you to read the whitepaper yourself. I know it’s long, but here’s the link if you’re as curious as I was: https://whitepaper.world.org/
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