AI entrepreneur Sam Altman has unveiled a cryptocurrency endeavor that can be labeled as "dystopian".
People receive digital coins from Worldcoin in exchange for scanning their eyeballs.
At various locations globally, individuals formed lines to look into the shiny globes on the initial day of the initiative's full implementation.
The BBC paid a visit to a London-based scanning site, where individuals were given free crypto tokens for going through the process.
Altman, CEO of Open AI which developed ChatGPT, is optimistic that the project will enable one to distinguish between a human or a robot.
Mr Altman declared in a launch letter on the company website that Worldcoin has the potential to significantly expand economic opportunity, and to provide a dependable way to distinguish between humans and AI online while maintaining privacy.
Worldcoin asserts that its arrangement could be a precursor to an "AI-funded" basic income for all persons. However, it remains uncertain as to how this could be achieved.
The idea of a universal basic income proposes that all citizens receive a fixed salary irrespective of their financial situation.
One of Worldcoin's first steps towards a crypto utopia is getting millions, and potentially billions, of people to scan their irises to prove they are human.
Worldcoin states that since the inception of testing on their scanners two years ago, over two million individuals in 33 countries have been added to the crypto database.
The majority of signups have been concentrated in Europe, India, and southern Africa, according to the company.
Due to regulatory issues, US citizens are not able to obtain the crypto coins that were built on an American foundation.
The project being fully launched and the crypto tokens being claimable and tradeable have led to expectations of an increase in popularity.
Worldcoin shared a snap of people lining up at a location in Japan and announced its intention of deploying 1,500 Orbs at various places worldwide.
The BBC went to a pop-up site in east London to give the venture a go, with a steady stream of people appearing.
The process begins by scanning your face and iris to confirm that you are an individual. Around 10 seconds will be required to look into the camera lens of the Orb, and wait to hear the beep that affirms the operation has been successful. Interestingly, the Orb provider stated the silver ball used to interact with people - but responses from customers considered it “unnerving” and so the voice feature was taken away.
The upcoming procedure involves the provision of a unique number to your iris scan which is then compared against the expansive database to verify that it has not been previously recorded. If that is the case, the machine will emit another sound and you will be added to the existing roster of 2.6 million other individuals at the present date.
Upon completion, 25 Worldcoin tokens will be given away free of charge, each of which is estimated to be worth approximately $2 (£1.56). The BBC plans to offload any coins it receives and donate the proceeds to Children in Need.
When the BBC departed the temporary site, 13 males, ranging from their twenties to thirties, had been scanned.
Moses Serumaga, aged 37, revealed that his presence had been prompted by a tweet from Sam Altman regarding the launch.
He observed that he could get some money for it, and as a result decided to take the risk, as it might become a big success or, like many other crypto projects, fail. He didn't want to miss out on the opportunity.
Tom, aged 23, also scanned his eyeball, but he noted that he didn't do it for financial gain, as he doesn't believe the tokens will appreciate in value.
He expressed his opinion that the sum of money wouldn't be motivating unless one was living in a less developed country, and he also asserted that there was little chance of it becoming higher.
The practice of scanning has been met with criticism, due to reports of questionable techniques employed by orb operators who receive a commission. This has been especially true of operators signing up customers from lower-income countries.
Privacy professionals are additionally concerned that any sensitive information collected from scanning someone's iris may be misappropriated, despite Worldcoin's promise that no data is kept.
Vitalik Buterin, who co-founded the cryptocurrency network Ethereum, expressed his enthusiasm for the launch of Worldcoin, but also cautioned about the possible risks involved.
He went on to state that, in aggregate, the experience of staring into the Orb and allowing it to scan deeply into one's eyeballs may have dystopian undertones, yet specialized hardware systems have demonstrated that privacy can be relatively well-preserved.
He also argues that relying on the specialised orbs to execute the scans might result in Worldcoin gaining too much influence and making it difficult for the world to join in.
Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter and backer of cryptocurrency, took to Twitter to issue a critique of the project, calling it "cute" and following up with the cautionary statement: "Go to the Orb or the Orb will come to you...".
Mr Altman declared that "haters" offered his team motivation, but at the same time conceded the task was an ambitious one.
He tweeted that attempting things such as this may result in success, however, even if it does not, it is through these attempts that progress is made.
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