The Digital Identity Challenge in the Age of AI
As AI becomes more sophisticated and deepfakes become increasingly difficult to detect, demonstrating that you’re human online is fast on the way to becoming one of the biggest hurdles of the internet age. That’s where World—formerly Worldcoin—enters the picture. Founded by Sam Altman, also the CEO of OpenAI, World seeks to create a decentralized, global identity system. The mission? To make it simpler to distinguish real humans from spam bots and AI while safeguarding privacy and unlocking new opportunities in digital life.
World’s U.S. Launch: Orbs, Orb Mini, and Nationwide Ambitions
World opened in the U.S. on May 1, 2025, introducing its hi-tech eye-scanning Orbs to six major metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco. The shiny, metallic orbs are difficult to ignore—and they’re at the forefront of how World intends to authenticate identities. By year-end, the company expects to have 7,500 Orbs up and running around the country, with a new production facility in Richardson, Texas, cranking out orbs to keep pace with demand.
But the World isn’t stopping at a fixed point. They’ve introduced the Orb Mini, a compact, mobile version of the initial product, about phone size. Built to be flexible, the Orb Mini is designed to take ID checking onto the campuses of universities, cafes, and even off into areas where there may not be permanent infrastructure. Deliveries are due to start in 2026, putting biometric verification tools in the hands of local partners and regular users.
How the Orb Works: Biometric Verification and Blockchain Security
So what happens when you peer into one of these Orbs? The gadget scans your iris and generates a one-of-a-kind World ID—one that verifies you’re human and one of a kind. This ID is locked down by encryption and recorded to the blockchain. As per Tools for Humanity, World’s parent company, your real iris image isn’t stored or saved on a central database. It’s a system designed to ensure user privacy and make it hard for malicious actors to game.
The World reports that millions are already employed using the system. More than 26 million people have enrolled worldwide, and about 12 million have finished iris scans. The larger vision is to create this type of trusted digital identity the norm—something you could use to vote online, lock down finance apps, or block bots on social media.
Growing the Ecosystem: Visa Card, Financial Services, and Strategic Partnerships
But the World is not only creating a new ID system—it’s constructing the rest of the digital world around it. Through the World App that links to your World ID, users can now access a suite of services. You can borrow against crypto using Morpho, get in on decentralized prediction markets like those provided by Kalshi, and even use your digital currency in the physical world.
One of the highlights is the World Card, a Visa debit card that allows you to spend Worldcoin tokens or stablecoins wherever Visa is accepted. It’s a solution to bridge digital assets to the physical world. In addition to that, authenticated cardholders may receive benefits such as discounts on AI subscriptions—e.g., ChatGPT Plus—or rewards at places where World ID is supported.
World has also collaborated with other leading firms to grow its presence. In Japan, it’s collaborating with Match Group to validate Tinder users and assist in reducing scams on dating apps. In the gaming sector, a collaboration with Razer is bringing World ID into player verification systems. And through an integration with Stripe, users will soon be able to use the World App to make purchases on mainstream e-commerce sites, bringing secure identity checks into common digital transactions.
Privacy, Regulation, and Global Pushback
However, not everyone’s convinced. The world has come under pressure from tough questions regarding privacy, particularly over the way it deals with sensitive biometric information. Critics fear even anonymized scans could be at risk if systems are ever hacked. The firm maintains that it doesn’t store raw images and utilizes robust encryption to ensure identities are protected.
There are also legal hurdles. In the U.S., World’s WLD tokens aren’t available in New York due to regulatory issues. Internationally, countries like Kenya, Brazil, and Hong Kong have either paused or outright banned the World’s operations over concerns about transparency, consent, and long-term risks. In Kenya, lawmakers even launched a year-long investigation to examine the project more closely.
The Vision: Trust, Universal Access, and the Future of Digital Identity
Sam Altman thinks that technologies such as World’s Orbs and their token have the ability to establish trust within an artificial intelligence-defined future. The long-term ambition is grand: provide a secure, verifiable digital identity to every individual on the planet, one that can minimize fraud, allow for more equitable systems, and even provide financial assistance for people in a world where AI might redefine how we work.
Of course, that future isn’t certain. The world still has to prove itself to the public, stay one step ahead of privacy issues, and comply with regulatory requirements in nations worldwide. But one thing’s certain: the competition to redesign digital identity is officially on, and World is placing big bets on the notion that gazing into a shining silver globe could be the solution to a more secure, more intelligent digital tomorrow.
