World, the biometric ID verification project co-founded by Sam Altman, released the newest version of its app today. This update debuts several new features, including an encrypted chat integration and an expanded, Venmo-like capability for sending and requesting cryptocurrency.
World was created by the startup Tools for Humanity in 2019 and originally launched its app in 2023. The company states that in a world roiled by AI-generated digital fakery, it hopes to create digital “proof of human” tools that can help separate humans from bots.
During a small gathering at World’s headquarters in San Francisco on Thursday, Altman and World’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Blania, briefly introduced the new version of the app before the product team took over to explain the new features. In his remarks, Altman said the concept for World grew from conversations about the need for a new economic model. That model, based around web3 principles, is what World has been trying to accomplish through its verification network. “It’s really hard to both identify unique people and do that in a privacy-preserving way,” said Altman.
World Chat, the app’s new messenger, seems designed to address that challenge. It uses end-to-end encryption to keep users’ conversations safe and leverages color-coded speech bubbles to alert users to whether the person they’re talking to has been verified by World’s system. The idea is to incentivize verification, giving people the power to know if their conversation partner is who they say they are. Chat was originally launched in beta in March.
The other major feature revealed on Thursday was an expanded digital payment system that allows app users to send and receive cryptocurrency. The World app has functioned as a digital wallet for some time, but the newest version includes broader capabilities. Using virtual bank accounts, users can receive paychecks directly into the World App and make deposits from their bank accounts, both of which can then be converted into crypto. Verification by World’s authentication system is not required to use these features.
Tiago Sada, World’s chief product officer, stated that part of the reason chat was added was to create a more interactive experience for users. “What we kept hearing from people is that they wanted a more social World app,” Sada said. World Chat is designed to fill that need, creating what Sada describes as a secure way to communicate. “It took a lot of work to make this feature-rich messenger that is similar to a WhatsApp or a Telegram, but with encryption and security of something that is a lot closer to Signal,” Sada said.
World, which was originally called Worldcoin, deploys a unique authentication process. Interested individuals get their eyes scanned at one of the company’s offices, where a device called the Orb converts the person’s iris into a unique and encrypted digital code. That code, the verified World ID, can then be used to interact with World’s ecosystem of services available through its app.
The addition of more social-friendly features is clearly meant to drive broader adoption of the app, which makes sense since scaling verification is the company’s main challenge. Altman has expressed a desire for the project to scan a billion people’s eyes, but Tools for Humanity claims to have scanned less than 20 million people to date.
Since standing in line at a corporate office to have your eyes scanned by a large metallic device may seem unappealing to some, the company has sought to make its verification process less cumbersome. In April, Tools for Humanity announced Orb Minis, which are hand-held, phone-like devices that allow users to scan their own eyes from home. Blania has previously stated that the company would eventually like to turn the Orb Minis into a mobile point-of-sale device or sell its ID sensor technology to device manufacturers. Such steps would significantly lower the barrier to verification, potentially inspiring much more widespread adoption.