Sam Altman's Worldcoin, a service that uses iris scans to create a unique human identifier called World ID, is expanding its reach through partnerships with consumer brands.
While previously focused on developing nations with incentives like Worldcoin cryptocurrency, the company is now leveraging retail partnerships, such as a Gap store in San Francisco, to sign up users in North America. Worldcoin aims to become a universal proof of humanity, useful for verifying identity across various platforms.
Despite amassing over 33 million users globally, only 1.1 million are in North America. The service has faced public skepticism and criticism for being 'creepy' and potentially exploitative, with some viewing the exchange of biometric data for cryptocurrency as a hard sell.
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