^{Chief product officer at Tools for Humanity, Tiago Sada. | Christina House / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images}

Sam Altman’s World Launches in the U.K. as AI Fraud Concerns Grow

LONDON — In a major step toward redefining digital identity, Sam Altman’s biometric identity verification startup, World, is officially launching in the United Kingdom this week. The platform, previously known as Worldcoin, uses a futuristic spherical device called the Orb to scan individuals’ irises, creating a secure and unique digital ID to distinguish humans from AI.

Starting Thursday, London residents will be able to sign up for World ID at dedicated locations, with expansion plans already set for Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, and Belfast in the coming months.

What Is World?

Co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in 2021, World is a blockchain-based project aiming to solve a rising challenge in the digital age: proving you're human.

At its core is the Orb, a silver ball equipped with biometric scanning capabilities. It captures a high-resolution image of a user’s iris, encrypts the data, and generates a one-of-a-kind identifier — called a World ID. This identifier can then be used to securely log into a range of online platforms without revealing personal information.

To date, 13 million people across the globe have completed verification, receiving World’s native token, WLD, as an incentive. The project integrates with platforms like Reddit, Discord, and Minecraft, with more use cases in development.

Why Now? AI-Fueled Fraud Is on the Rise

With the rapid growth of deepfakes and generative AI tools, identity fraud is becoming a serious issue for industries ranging from finance to gaming. Adrian Ludwig, Chief Architect at Tools for Humanity — a core contributor to the World network — said the idea of biometric authentication is no longer theoretical.

“Enterprises and governments are seeing the threat of AI impersonation daily,” Ludwig told CNBC. “We’re transitioning from a science project to a real-world solution.”

In the United States, World recently launched six flagship locations across Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, and Miami. According to Ludwig, the company aims to increase verifications tenfold over the next few months.

A Global Race for Digital Identity

Governments worldwide are beginning to explore digital ID systems. India's Aadhaar program — one of the world’s largest biometric ID systems — boasts over 1.3 billion registered users. However, it has faced intense criticism over security vulnerabilities and privacy issues, sparking debates about the risks of centralized data systems.

World claims to solve many of these problems. Unlike Aadhaar, which stores data on central servers, World’s verification process is decentralized — leveraging the computing power of user smartphones for processing and local data storage. The company says all biometric images are permanently deleted after creating the World ID.

Despite these promises, privacy advocates continue to raise questions about mass biometric data collection. World insists it’s engaging proactively with regulators, including the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Working With Regulators — and Preparing for Scale

“We’ve had hundreds of conversations with privacy watchdogs,” Ludwig said. “They want to know how the system works, how privacy is protected, and whether participation opens governments to liability. So far, we’ve had answers to every question.”

World’s model focuses on building trust and transparency into the onboarding process, a vital factor for global scalability. Unlike traditional CAPTCHA methods or facial recognition tools — which are increasingly vulnerable to AI circumvention — iris-based biometric verification offers more robust protection.

The company believes this makes it an ideal foundation for next-generation digital identity systems, especially as digital borders begin to replace physical ones.

What’s Next?

With 13 million users already in the system and ambitious plans to scale across the U.K., World is positioning itself at the intersection of AI, Web3, and identity verification. Whether it becomes the go-to authentication system in a post-password, AI-saturated world depends on two things: public trust and regulatory cooperation.

Still, as Ludwig puts it:

“We’re just getting started. The goal is to create a truly global proof-of-personhood system — and we believe we’re building the foundation for that today.”