At an event in San Francisco, Sam Altman’s ambitious World project announced a significant expansion of its biometric verification services, now allowing Tinder users globally to display a digital badge on their profiles. This badge signals to potential matches that they are verified as real humans, contingent upon their completion of an iris scan using one of World’s distinctive glossy white Orbs.
This development follows a pilot initiative for Tinder verification previously rolled out in Japan, positioning this global launch as one of World’s most significant tests. The project, founded in 2019 by Altman and Alex Blania, was conceptualized in a landscape increasingly dominated by highly sophisticated AI agents that complicate the ability to discern genuine human interaction online.
As companies such as OpenAI—where Altman serves as CEO—and Anthropic introduce advanced AI systems into the mainstream, the urgency behind World’s mission becomes more pronounced. However, the project has faced challenges, including resistance from various governments concerned about potential violations of data protection laws. Despite these hurdles, World reports that it has quadrupled its verified user base to 18 million, up from 12 million just a year prior.
The expansion to Tinder is accompanied by additional partnerships announced at the Lift Off event. Users who verify their identity through World will be granted five complimentary “boosts,” a feature that normally requires payment and significantly increases profile visibility for 30 minutes. This aligns with other collaborations, including a new requirement for Zoom users to verify their identity with World prior to joining a call, and Docusign allowing users to employ World’s verification technology for signing documents.
Tiago Sada, Tools for Humanity’s chief product officer, emphasized that establishing major platform partnerships is key for the mainstream adoption of World’s identity verification technology. He expressed interest in further collaboration, particularly with social media platforms, and noted that Reddit is already testing World’s services to help users differentiate between bots and real individuals.
Moreover, World is set to introduce a new tool named Concert Kit, aimed at tackling the issue of ticket scalping, which has long plagued platforms like TicketMaster. This initiative is designed to enable artists to reserve concert tickets exclusively for verified users. Upcoming tests include a verified-human-only concert featuring Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s alias DJ Pee .Wee.
No new hardware developments were introduced at the event, but World’s iris-scanning Orb, which was first launched in 2023, remains central to its identity verification efforts. The technology creates a unique cryptographic key—referred to as a World ID—for each user after their iris scan, facilitating a private, decentralized method for online verification without needing to share government IDs.
Initially launched as Worldcoin, the project originally offered free cryptocurrency in exchange for iris scans. While it still provides a cryptocurrency token and wallet, it has reoriented its branding and focus since 2024, moving away from the “coin” nomenclature to emphasize identity verification in an AI-influenced era. Tools for Humanity continues to incentivize new users with cryptocurrency, alongside other perks like Netflix and Apple TV subscription trials, broadening its approach in a competitive tech landscape.
