Sam Altman's OpenAI is filing for an IPO that could reshape tech. At the same time, his other venture is imploding.
According to TechCrunch, Tools for Humanity — the identity verification company behind World, the iris-scanning silver orb — is conducting layoffs while struggling to generate revenue.
Altman's pitch was straightforward: scan your eyeballs, verify your identity, prove you're human rather than a bot, and gain access to crypto and digital verification services. The company raised $2.5 billion, backed by investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital.
In practice, people have been unwilling to hand over their biometric data to a startup for $50 in Worldcoin.
The international rollout has encountered sustained resistance. Kenya banned World over privacy concerns. South Korea fined the company $830,000 for privacy violations. India and Hong Kong raised major red flags when residents were offered crypto payments for iris scans. Partnerships with Tinder, Zoom, and Docusign in the United States have not generated meaningful revenue.
While Altman advances OpenAI's IPO — potentially one of the decade's largest public offerings — Tools for Humanity is being trimmed down. The contrast is stark: Altman's AI venture is ascending. Everything else is not.
