World Network’s WLD token (formerly Worldcoin) surged more than 27% on Wednesday after a Forbes report linked the controversial crypto project to OpenAI’s broader efforts to combat online bots.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wants to create a “biometric social network” to help online platforms verify users and weed out AI-generated accounts, Forbes reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Sources close to the project’s development told Forbes that the OpenAI team had considered using Apple’s Face ID or the World Orb, which scans a person’s iris to provide a unique identity.
World is the crypto project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and raised $135 million in a token sale to a16z and Bain Capital Crypto last year. The main premise of the project is World ID, a decentralized, privacy-focused identity system that uses the orb, a tailor-made biometric device that scans users’ iris and generates unique identifiers in accordance with privacy standards.
The token soared shortly after the report was released, briefly outperforming most major cryptocurrencies, even though it did not confirm any formal collaboration between OpenAI and World.
The World Network has aroused both curiosity and criticism since its launch. Although the project claims to have verified millions of people around the world, it has also faced regulatory pushback, including a temporary suspension in Kenya and investigations in the UK into how it processes personal data.
Still, the idea of linking biometric verification to online identity continues to gain traction, especially as generative AI tools flood social media with spam and misinformation.
Read more: The Untold Story of Worldcoin Launch: Inside the Orb
