The prospective alliance comes as both businesses are under more regulatory scrutiny. According to reports, Tools For Humanity’s Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency-based universal basic income and identity verification company also co-founded by Sam Altman, and OpenAI, an artificial intelligence company led by Altman, are in cooperation negotiations.
The two companies are reportedly in talks to form a relationship that would see OpenAI supply Worldcoin with AI services and solutions, with the potential for future synergy, according to a recent article from Bloomberg. Considering Altman’s position at both companies, any collaboration between OpenAI and Worldcoin would most likely be subject to further governmental scrutiny. In an interview with Bloomberg, CEO of Tools for Humanity Alex Blania stated:
“Sam alone, I believe, is to blame. Simply put, a lot more attention than a project or company of that size would typically get.”
Though Worldcoin is currently one of the most popular universal basic income and identity verification programmes in the world, with an average of two million users each day, it’s unclear exactly what Blania might have meant by their remarks.
Neither corporation has experienced controversy or regulatory attention previously. Lately, OpenAI completely avoided accusations that it was being investigated by EU authorities for its relationship with Microsoft as part of a merger. Furthermore, in just the first three months of 2024, Worldcoin was banned in Portugal, Kenya, and Spain.
Most of 2024 has been devoted to Worldcoin’s efforts to grow its business. The company has introduced its own blockchain, a layer-2 system that gives confirmed Worldcoin users—humans—priority over bots, as was recently revealed.
Regarding cryptocurrencies, Worldcoin has declared that, as part of a sell-off to specific institutions, it will raise the number of WLD tokens by 36 million over the course of the following six months, making them currently valued at approximately $196 million.
This occurs at the same time that the token’s appeal is growing, at least in terms of distribution. Semafor states that the company is currently experiencing a shortage of its “orbs,” despite having between 300 and 500 of them in the field.
Worldcoin use hardware called Orbs to scan users’ irises, a feature of the eye that is said to be unique and similar to fingerprints, in order to register and validate their digital identities. When a person signs up for the service in an area where it is offered, they can have their eyes scanned to obtain 10 WLD tokens, which are worth $4.81 at the time this article was published, plus an extra two tokens each month after that.