Sam Altman Dual Mission: OpenAI and the Quest to Verify Human With the Orb Mini

Updated: May 07 2025 11:36

AI Summary: The World project, co-founded by Sam Altman and Alex Blania, addresses the growing challenge of distinguishing humans from sophisticated AI online. Recognizing the increasing difficulty of this task as AI advances, the project developed the biometric Orb scanning device for unique human verification. The project is undergoing a significant U.S. expansion with new locations and self-service verification, aiming to integrate human proof into various online domains like gaming, dating, and social media to combat bots and inauthentic content.

In a digital landscape increasingly populated by sophisticated AI, distinguishing between human and artificial interactions has become one of technology's most pressing challenges. Three years ago, when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Alex Blania first conceptualized what would become the World project (formerly Worldcoin), their vision seemed almost prophetic.

Today, as AI effortlessly passes Turing tests and generates increasingly convincing content, their solution, the biometric Orb scanning device, has evolved from experimental technology to a portable tool poised for global deployment. Here is their recent "At Last" event in San Francisco where they introduced the highly anticipated Orb Mini, a portable device designed to help distinguish humans from AI agents online.




The World project was founded on a prescient vision: as AI technology advances, it will eventually become impossible to distinguish between human and AI agents on the internet. What once seemed like a distant future concern has rapidly become our present reality, with the Turing test—the classic measure of machine intelligence—already considered passed by many experts.

"We were talking about what trust in the age of AGI was going to look like," reflected Sam Altman during the event, describing early conversations with Blania. "This was way before ChatGPT, but we were both very interested in AI and what that was going to mean as work kept going and we kept progressing towards where we're getting to now."

The foundational insight driving the World project is that as AI becomes more sophisticated, we'll need reliable methods to verify human identity online—not just for security, but to maintain human agency in digital spaces.



The original Orb represents an impressive feat of engineering—a device that wasn't initially planned but became necessary as the team realized biometrics offered the only viable path to achieving their goal of unique human verification at scale.


After extensive research, they determined that iris scanning provided the most accurate biometrics with acceptable user experience—crucially, with strong fraud resistance and rich data characteristics that allow for differentiating between billions of unique humans. As the team discovered, commercially available iris imaging devices didn't meet their requirements, leading to years of custom hardware development. The resulting device is remarkably sophisticated:

• A tilted mainboard at precisely 23.5° (matching Earth's axial tilt) that divides the device into two hemispheres
• A custom optical system featuring multispectral sensors for liveness verification
• A 2D gimbal-enabled narrow field of view camera capturing high-resolution iris images
• A powerful Nvidia Jetson Xavier NX computing unit that enables local processing for maximum privacy
• An exchangeable battery system using the same 18650 Li-Ion cells found in Tesla vehicles

The most impressive component is perhaps the custom telephoto lens, optimized for the near-infrared spectrum with an integrated liquid lens allowing for neural network-controlled millisecond autofocus. This lens, paired with a global shutter sensor, captures distortion-free images at a resolution "orders of magnitude above industry standard."


At the recent "At Last" event, Tools for Humanity unveiled what may be their most significant innovation yet: the Orb Mini. This portable device represents the natural evolution of the technology, shrinking the sophisticated scanning capabilities of the original Orb into a pocket-sized form factor.


Unveiled by Rich Heley, Tools for Humanity's Chief Device Officer and former Apple director, the Orb Mini maintains the essential functionality of its larger predecessor while offering complete portability. Former Apple designer Thomas Meyerhoff contributed to its sleek design, which preserves the iconic spherical elements while making the technology accessible anywhere.

The implications are significant. While the original Orbs required dedicated locations and operators, the Mini points toward a future where human verification could become as commonplace as smartphone usage—available whenever and wherever needed.




Alongside the Orb Mini announcement, Tools for Humanity revealed an ambitious expansion of the World Network in the United States starting May 9th, 2024. This rollout includes:

• Opening dedicated storefronts in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Austin, and Nashville
• Deploying an ambitious 7,500 Orbs across the United States by the end of 2024—quadrupling their current global deployment
• Introducing self-service verification flows that allow users to complete the process independently

"With this number of Orbs deployed across the US, this is going to give convenient access to Orb verifications to nearly every American," Heley stated during the presentation.


The self-service verification flow represents another significant advancement, allowing users to approach an Orb in locations like coffee shops or convenience stores and complete the process without assistance:

1. Scan a QR code from the World app to pair with the Orb
2. Position yourself as guided by the device
3. Remove face coverings or glasses
4. Look into the device while it completes verification

Throughout this process, privacy remains paramount—the Orb explicitly informs users that their data is sent only to their device and deleted from the Orb afterward.



What makes the World project particularly intriguing is its focus on practical applications where human verification delivers immediate value. The company has identified three initial areas where this verification will matter most:

Gaming: World has partnered with Razer to make proof of human verification a gaming standard. Starting next month, Orbs will be available in all Razer stores, allowing gamers to verify where they regularly gather. They've also announced a "League of Humans Tournament"—a fully online large-scale tournament exclusively for verified humans, potentially addressing the persistent problems of bots and cheating in competitive gaming.


Dating: Through a partnership with Match Group (owners of Tinder and other platforms), World ID integration aims to strengthen trust and authenticity across dating experiences. The first implementation is planned for Tinder in Japan later this year—potentially reducing the growing problem of AI-generated profiles and scams.

Social Media: Perhaps the most broadly applicable use case, human verification on social media platforms could help combat the flood of AI-generated content and bot accounts that increasingly dominate online discourse.



What makes the Orb's verification technology unique is its combination of hardware and software sophistication. The original Orb uses multiple neural networks running in real-time to:

• Optimize image capture through the wide-angle camera that locates both eyes
• Steer the telephoto camera's field of view precisely to each eye
• Capture high-resolution iris images which are processed into unique identifiers
• Perform local anti-spoof detection to prevent fraud

The system employs multispectral imaging at 740nm, 850nm, and 940nm wavelengths to make the uniqueness algorithm more accurate and detect potential fraud. This is enhanced by additional sensors including a 3D time-of-flight camera and a thermal camera—creating multiple layers of verification that run entirely on the local device.

The critical insight behind this approach is that biometric verification needed to be both accurate and inclusive at a massive scale. As the team discovered during development, false rejections in biometric systems aren't constant but increase with scale. Eventually, most systems hit a wall and cannot accommodate new users. The Orb's optical system was designed specifically to overcome this limitation, making it theoretically capable of distinguishing between billions of unique individuals.


From the beginning, Tools for Humanity has emphasized their commitment to privacy, trust, and transparency. This is reflected in several aspects of their approach:

• Local processing of sensitive biometric data on the Orb itself
• Encryption of any stored images with irreversible public key encryption
• Optional data contribution with deletion available at any time
• Open-sourcing of hardware engineering files under a modified MIT license that prohibits surveillance applications

The company's repository now contains all relevant hardware-related engineering files Hardware specifications and schematics for the Worldcoin Orb for the current version of the Orb, viewable with freely available software like Eagle for PCBs and Autodesk's CAD viewers. This transparency is unusual in the hardware space, especially for biometric devices, and signals the company's commitment to enabling others to develop, build, and operate similar devices that integrate with the World ID protocol.



Beyond identity verification, the World project also incorporates a financial network through the Worldcoin token. Adrian, speaking at the event, outlined how the token serves multiple functions:

• Building network growth (helping reach 26 million users and 12 million verified users)
• Ensuring sustainability of the protocol
• Creating decentralization incentives

The company announced that everyone who downloaded the World App before the event will receive a "Pioneer Grant" of 150 WLD tokens. The World App itself received a major update to version 4.0, featuring:

• Redesigned interface
• Enhanced mini-apps ecosystem
• New built-in encrypted messenger (World Chat)
• Improved wallet features
• New payment capabilities through partnerships with Circle and Stripe
• Introduction of World Card in partnership with Visa

In a surprising reversal announced on May 5, 2025, OpenAI has decided that its nonprofit division will retain control over its for-profit organization, abandoning earlier plans to convert fully to a for-profit entity.

"OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit, and is today overseen and controlled by that nonprofit," OpenAI Board Chairman Bret Taylor wrote in a statement on the company's blog. "Going forward, it will continue to be overseen and controlled by that nonprofit."

According to the company, OpenAI's business wing, which has been under the nonprofit since 2019, will transition to a public benefit corporation (PBC). The nonprofit will both control and be a large shareholder of the PBC.

This decision comes "after hearing from civic leaders and engaging in constructive dialogue with the offices of the Attorney General of Delaware and the Attorney General of California," according to the company statement.

The reversal follows significant opposition to OpenAI's planned transition, including a lawsuit from early investor Elon Musk, who accused the startup of abandoning its nonprofit mission. While a federal judge denied Musk's request for a preliminary injunction to halt the conversion, the case is set to go to a jury trial in spring 2026.

Additional opposition came from ex-OpenAI employees, nonprofit organizations, labor groups, Nobel laureates, law professors, and civil society organizations, many of whom petitioned state attorneys general to stop the restructuring.

In a letter to staff also published on OpenAI's blog, CEO Sam Altman stated that he believes OpenAI may eventually require "trillions of dollars" to fulfill its goal of "[making the company's] services broadly available to all of humanity."

[OpenAI's nonprofit] will become a big shareholder in the PBC in an amount supported by independent financial advisors. [W]e are moving to a normal capital structure where everyone has stock. … We look forward to advancing the details of [our] plan in continued conversation with them, [our partner] Microsoft, and our newly appointed nonprofit commissioners.

A key question surrounding the World project is its relationship with OpenAI, Sam Altman's other major venture. While the event didn't specifically address potential collaboration between the companies, the underlying mission of World—creating verification systems for humans in an AI-saturated internet—clearly complements OpenAI's work in advancing artificial intelligence.

The World project represents one of the most ambitious attempts to address a fundamental challenge of our era: maintaining trust and human identity in digital spaces increasingly populated by sophisticated AI. With 26 million users globally and a major U.S. expansion underway, the project is rapidly scaling toward its vision of global human verification.

As AI systems like ChatGPT and real-time video generation become more sophisticated and widespread, the need for reliable human verification will only grow. Whether the Orb Mini might eventually incorporate AI features or connect with OpenAI's rumored AI device remains to be seen.