Sam Altman's ambitious blockchain project, World, has officially launched in the United States, with the goal of deploying 7,500 biometric orbs across the country by year's end. These orbs, which resemble chrome bowling balls, utilize eye-scanning technology to verify an individual's identity and will initially be available in six key cities: Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco. Upon using the orb, users will gain access to the World app and receive an airdrop of the platform's native WLD token.
The project aims to make its network accessible to over 180 million Americans by the end of the year. The US expansion was announced at a San Francisco press conference, where executives from World's parent company, Tools for Humanity, also unveiled new features and partnerships, including crypto-backed loans, prediction markets, and a World-linked Visa debit card. The company is also integrating its identity-verification technology into online dating platforms, starting with Tinder in Japan. According to Altman, the concept of World predates his work on OpenAI, driven by the need for a reliable method to authenticate humans in an era of artificial general intelligence.
The company will establish a factory in Richardson, Texas, to support the production of orbs for its US expansion, with plans to roll out to additional cities, including Seattle, Orlando, San Diego, and Las Vegas, in the future.