Tinder and Zoom Partner With Sam Altman’s Controversial Iris-Scanning Technology to “Prove Humanness”
Updated
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is making progress with his Orb technology, an iris-scanning hardware platform, after signing high-profile corporate partnerships with Tinder, Zoom, DocuSign, Okta, Shopify, and other platforms. Tools For Humanity is the company owned by Altman that is deploying its “World,” formerly known as “WorldCoin,” Orb technology worldwide. In a seeming contradiction, the technology seeks to protect users’ privacy and safety by collecting biometric iris scan data, but the company claims it does not store raw scans – only irreversible hashes. So far, 18 million people worldwide have “verified their humanness” across 160 countries by scanning their eyes with the Orb technology.
The program was initially launched as a way to distribute Altman’s Worldcoin cryptocurrency “fairly” and “to as many people as possible.” Free coins are given to individuals who scan their irises and become verified as human beings. Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who exposed government surveillance programs, responded to Altman’s technology in October 2021 and said, “Don’t use biometrics for anti-fraud. In fact, don’t use biometrics for anything.”
“This looks like it produces a global (hash) database of people’s iris scans (for “fairness”), and waves away the implications by saying “we deleted the scans!” Yeah, but you save the *hashes* produced by the scans. Hashes that match *future* scans. Don’t catalogue eyeballs,” Snowden wrote on X.
The technology is intended to protect against phishing and online fraud scams by differentiating between human and AI users. This is a proposed solution to the problems arising from the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, aided in part by Altman’s ChatGPT Large Language Model.
“Worldcoin is a potential privacy nightmare that offers a biometrics-dependent vision of digital identity and cryptocurrency, and would place Sam Altman’s Tools for Humanity company at the center of digital governance,” said Jake Wiener (2023), Counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). “Worldcoin’s approach creates serious privacy risks by bribing the poorest and most vulnerable people to turn over unchangeable biometrics like iris scans and facial recognition images in exchange for a small payout.
“Mass collections of biometrics like Worldcoin threaten people’s privacy on a grand scale, both if the company misuses the information it collects, and if that data is stolen,” Wiener continued. “Ultimately, Worldcoin wants to become the default digital ID and a global currency without democratic buy-in at the start; that alone is a compelling reason not to turn over your biometrics, personal information, and geolocation data to a private company. We urge regulatory agencies around the world to closely scrutinize Worldcoin.”
EPIC released that statement in 2023. Since then, the Orb technology has been deployed in six cities across the US – Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco. It has also been deployed in several European countries, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina, although operations in Europe and Brazil are limited and/or restricted. The Philippines ordered that the company stop collecting biometric data in October 2025, approximately eight months after launching Orbs inside the country. Hong Kong, Kenya, Thailand, and Indonesia have all suspended operations within their countries. The company has been appealing the decisions in these countries, arguing that it doesn’t collect names and addresses.
AI videos are becoming increasingly more realistic, so Zoom has partnered with World to verify users and prevent deepfakes. Catfishing is common on dating apps, so Tinder is offering incentives for users to scan their eyes and become verified on the platform. In exchange, these users will get additional boosts, and users can be more assured that they are interacting with real humans.
Gaming platforms can be infiltrated by bots and fake accounts. Razer and Mythical Games are two platforms that have partnered with World to create verified human profiles on their platforms. Verification is currently optional, but the platforms are moving towards creating certain spaces where only verified accounts can enter. Shopping apps like Shopify are also embracing the technology to prevent fraud.
With more companies signing on to partnerships and offering perks for verified users, one reality that is slowing mass adoption of the eye-scanning technology is that users must visit a World Space or partner store to have their irises scanned. Only six US cities currently have this technology available, but expansion to other cities is ongoing. The company announced the “Orb-Mini,” expected to be available later this year, allowing anyone to verify whether they have or know someone who has one of these handheld devices.
The other main concern slowing the company’s adoption rates is fear of biometric data collection and perceptions that the technology is “dystopian” or “creepy.” Only about 1.1 million users are verified in North America, and 18 million worldwide. Altman set an ambitious goal of reaching 1 billion verified users by 2023 after launching the project in 2021. It has been more than three years since the deadline Altman set for his goal, but the company is still less than 2% of the way to reaching the ongoing goal of 1 billion verified users.
The world has faced continual pushback from governments regarding the collection of biometric data, but the US government currently has no restrictions. The latest push involves partnerships with large companies that can offer incentives to entice users to “verify their humanness” before eventually moving into a space where verification is no longer optional.