Worldcoin will expand its operations to sign up more users globally and aims to allow other organisations to use its iris-scanning and identity-verifying technology, a senior manager for the company behind the project told Reuters.
Co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Worldcoin launched last week, requiring users to give their iris scans in exchange for a digital ID and, in some countries, free cryptocurrency as part of plans to create a “identity and financial network”.
In sign-up sites around the world, people have been getting their faces scanned by a shiny spherical “orb”, shrugging off privacy campaigners’ concerns that the biometric data could be misused. Worldcoin says 2.2 million have signed up, mostly during a trial period over the last two years. Data watchdogs in Britain, France and Germany have said they are looking into the project.
“We are on this mission of building the biggest financial and identity community that we can,” said Ricardo Macieira, general manager for Europe at Tools For Humanity, the San Francisco and Berlin-based company behind the project.
Worldcoin raised $115 million from venture capital investors including Blockchain Capital, a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global in a funding round in May.
Macieira said Worldcoin would continue rolling out operations in Europe, Latin America, Africa and “all the parts of the world that will accept us.”
Worldcoin’s website mentions various possible applications, including distinguishing humans from artificial intelligence, enabling “global democratic processes” and showing a “potential path” to universal basic income, although these outcomes are not guaranteed.
Most people interviewed by Reuters at sign-up sites in Britain, India and Japan last week said they were joining in order to receive the 25 free Worldcoin tokens the company says verified users can claim.
“I don’t think we are going to be the ones generating universal basic income. If we can do the infrastructure that allows for governments or other entities to do so we would be very happy,” Macieira said.
Companies could pay Worldcoin to use its digital identity system, for example if a coffee shop wants to give everyone one free coffee, then Worldcoin’s technology could be used to ensure that people do not claim more than one coffee without the shop needing to gather personal data, Macieira said.
“The idea is that as we build this infrastructure and that we allow other third parties to use the technology.”
In future, the technology behind the iris-scanning orb will be open-source, Macieira added.
“The idea is that anyone can in the future build their own orb and use it to benefit the community that it’s aiming for,” he said.
Privacy Concerns
Regulators and privacy campaigners have raised concerns about Worldcoin’s data collection, including whether users are giving informed consent and whether one company should be responsible for handling the data.
Worldcoin’s website says the project is “completely private” and that the biometric data is either deleted or users can opt to have it stored in encrypted form.
The Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision, which has jurisdiction in the European Union because Tools For Humanity has an office there, said it started investigating Worldcoin in November 2022 because of concerns about its large-scale processing of sensitive data.
Michael Will, president of the Bavarian regulator, said it would look into whether Worldcoin’s system is “safe and stable”.
The project “requires very, very ambitious security measures and lots of explanations and transparency to ensure that data protection requirements are not neglected,” Will said.
Will said people who hand over their data need “absolute clarity” about how and why it is processed.
Rainer Rehak, a researcher on AI and society at the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin said that Worldcoin’s use of technology is “irresponsible” and that it is not clear what problems it would solve.
Article: Worldcoin to share ID system with governments, corporations
“On October 16, 2014 at the office of the Russian Venture Company (RVC), an expert seminar “The Neuronet Roadmap” was held with the participation of Stephen Dunn, director of Starlab Neuroscience Research; Karen Casey, creator of the Global Mind Project; Randal A. Kuhne, CEO of the Science Foundation Carboncopies.org and the founder of NeuraLink Co. ..
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[…]the world’s leading experts in the field of neuroscience and members of the Russian Neuronet group discussed neuroscience and neurotechnology – one of the most relevant areas of research.
The seminar participants said that applied solutions in this area are developing at an accelerated pace. With the help of implanted electrodes, the monkey can already control two independent moving targets. New neural interfaces are just around the corner: scientists turn neurons on and off using light signals and can read information from them and transmit signals to them, introducing neural dust into the brain – the smallest crystals, no larger than 5 microns. All these achievements promise breakthroughs in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, in the development of auditory and visual prostheses.
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Neurotechnologies affect the sphere of entertainment, the education system, approaches to the management of industry and trade. But the most important result of a scientific and technological breakthrough in the field of neuroscience is the achievement of a new quality in communications. The modern Internet transmits information and even semantics, but is powerless in transmitting emotions and the unconscious. The Neuronet is the next generation of the Internet, which will use neural interfaces to create new types of communication between people and machines. By linking hundreds or, in the future, even billions of intelligences into a neurocomputer network, it will be possible to achieve a synergistic effect in their joint work, since the brain has the property of plasticity. Perhaps, in the era of the Neural Network, people will finally agree on solving the world’s problems, because an environment will appear that will help overcome the usual human distortions of thinking and perception. New opportunities will open up in teamwork and improving the effectiveness of educational programs.
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And Pavel Luksha, Ph.D. in Economics, professor at the Skolkovo Business School, Director of Global Education Futures, one of the co-founders of the Russian Neuronet Group, is most confident in this.
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He believes that in the modern world, many problems arise due to the fact that people cannot agree with each other on the joint use of certain resources. The Neuronet – through the organization of a kind of “collective mind” – will help to solve these problems.
The roadmap for the development of the Neuronet for the period from 2014 to 2040 is shown
https://archive.is/WxGFP/83ea2ac35381b40a24cf757570234790151ca8b6.jpg
The main stages of the development of the Neuronet, Source: Pavel Luksha. Presentation “Roadmap for the development of the Neuronet”, 2014
left: BiometriNet (pre-Neuronet) (2014-2024), center: The onset of the Neuronet (2025-2035), right: Full-Fledged Neuronet (2035+)
You see the timeline at the bottom: 2014, 2020, 2030, 2040.
https://archive.is/WxGFP/d29ceb4d7219c59593f0e95977a57cdb7d0a62d2.jpg
The main stages of Biometrinet development, Source: Pavel Luksha. Presentation “Roadmap for the development of the Neural network”, 2014
Intermediate step: Before the Neuronet, Biometrinet is emerging
You seeing the timeline at the bottom: 2014→2020→ 2030 the emergence of Neuronet
Article finish with:
“When Biometrinet becomes commonplace, the “Neuronet Offensive” will begin (2025-2035), during which communication protocols based on digital models of mental processes will be developed and approaches to organizing a “collective consciousness” capable of “brainstorming” and solving tasks that require the concerted efforts of many people will be found.”
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In the post below: Review of the roadmap of Neuronet from the PDF on National Technology Initiative.
“The Neuronet Roadmap was approved by Protocol No. 1 of 02/28/2022 by absentee voting of the members of the Presidium of the Government Commission for Economic Modernization and Innovative Development of Russia.”