World moves further into Asia with new Thailand manager on heels of US launch

“Like a Rolling Orb” may not have the same ring to it as Bob Dylan’s anthem, but that’s not stopping the iris biometrics and decentralized digital ID scheme from continuing its World tour. The firm is busy in Asia, with a launch in the Philippines and the appointment of a country manager for Thailand to lead a planned expansion there. It has followed its recent U.S. launch by announcing partnerships with Visa and Match Group, and is forging ahead with activations of its Orb iris scanner at retail outlets across the country.

Expansion in Southeast Asia continues

The Nation reports that, in Thailand, World has appointed Pakapol Thangtongchin as Country Manager. Thangtongchin has held senior roles at Amazon, Bain & Company and Central Group.

A report in Inquirer.net looks at World’s continued rollout in the Philippines, with verification hubs have been set up in Bulacan, San Juan, Quezon City and Mandaluyong. The firm set up shop there in February, catching the eye of the country’s data protection regulator within days.

The publication has an interview with Damien Kieran, the Chief Legal and Privacy Officer at Tools For Humanity, which contributes to the World Network and its offshoots in an ill-defined but critical way.

Kieran has high praise for World CEO (and OpenAI CEO) Sam Altman. “Sam saw what was coming. He realized we’d need tools to keep humans grounded in an AI-driven world,” Kieran says. “It’s like when cars were first invented. We needed seatbelts, traffic lights, and roads. That’s what World ID is – basic infrastructure for digital life.”

Crucially, in Kieran’s metaphor, the car represents AI, the algorithmic technology that has gained widespread popularity through OpenAI’s ChatGPT large language model (LLM). The idea is that, like cars, AI without infrastructure is dangerous, and that World can fix it. As such, it is akin to letting the Ford Motor Company control traffic lights.

“Our goal is to build the world’s largest network of verified humans and restore trust in online interactions,” says Kieran. What if you could use WhatsApp without spammy messages, or use Tinder “knowing the person you’re talking to isn’t trying to catfish you”?

Orb looks sinister because ‘no one writes about boring’

The argument is predicated on the idea that every attack surface is under bombardment from synthetic media and AI bots (many of which likely originate with ChatGPT). Witness a recent blog: “experts warn that in just a few years ‘it will be impossible to know if someone is communicating with another mortal or a neural network.’”

It points to the sensationalism at the heart of World’s campaign: a transformed internet under siege by AI, big livestreamed announcement events, messianic branding, and a biometric capture device that evokes an evil robotic eye out of vintage science fiction.

Of the notorious Orb, Kieran says, “we could have made it boring, but no one writes about boring.”

Interestingly, its U.S. storefronts are rather dull, or “minimalist,” according to a recent article in Wired looking at its San Francisco digs.

World’s next generation device, a Mini Orb, resembles a smartphone, which is significantly more boring – and that could end up being a good thing for World.

Toning down rhetoric could help firm be more likable

The firm stands on its altruistic mission; Kieran says “your data shouldn’t be free for anyone to exploit. People should own their identity. They should feel safe online. And that’s what we’re trying to make possible.” He insists “we’re not trying to profit from identity. The more people join, the more valuable it becomes for everyone.”

However, his explanation of secure multi-party computation tech is the most convincing part of the interview, and the best tool World has to convince users it does what it says, and explain why. World and Tools for Humanity (technically a non-profit) have a business model; one does not launch startups with global ambitions without one, especially one that began its life as a cryptocurrency. It may be benign, perhaps even beneficial. (It is unlikely to be, as Altman defines it, “a way to make sure that humans stay special and central, in a world where the internet is going to have lots of AI-driven content.”)

But the company’s leaders do not seem to grasp that branding themselves as gods makes them appear as villains – nor that Altman is simultaneously helming the product that has created most of the problems World aims to solve. The key question may not be whether proof-of-personhood (PoP) schemes are necessary in the age of AI, but whether we want the man who helped unleash the lion in charge of taming it on our behalf.

The question may be moot, in that we may have no choice. According to CNBC, since its founding, Tools for Humanity has raised more than $140 million in funding. Its most recent valuation, in 2021, put it at $1 billion. The network is already host to 26 million people across Europe, South America and Asia-Pacific; 12 million of those are “verified humans.” World wants to scale to one billion people. Big partnerships with Visa and Nvidia could help get it there. One thing is certain: World believes.

Article Topics

Asia  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  iris biometrics  |  Philippines  |  proof of personhood  |  Thailand  |  Tools for Humanity  |  United States  |  World  |  World ID  |  World ID Orb