--- title: "Multiple Countries Investigating Sam Altman’s Eye-Scanning Orb" description: "Germany, France, and the UK are all investigating OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's company Worldcoin, which scans irises into a database." date: "2023-07-31" modified: "2023-07-31" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/european-investigations-altman-worldcoin-orb" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" tags: - "data privacy" - "sam altman" - "the digest" - "worldcoin" --- # Multiple Countries Investigating Sam Altman’s Eye-Scanning Orb ![Germany, France, and the UK are all investigating OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's company Worldcoin, which scans irises into a database.]() *SUN VALLEY, IDAHO - JULY 12: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, walks with fellow attendees as they leave a morning session at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 12, 2023 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every July, some of the world's most wealthy and powerful figures from the media, finance, technology and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive weeklong conference. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) \Image: Kevin Dietsch via Getty \* ## Pondering the Orb Germany announced Friday that it has been quietly investigating Worldcoin, a new iris-scanning cryptocurrency venture by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — which seemingly brings the total number of European investigations into the scheme up to three, signaling what could be a tough regulatory road ahead for the project. As [*Reuters* reports](), the president of the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision, Germany's data watchdog, confirmed that it had been investigating Worldcoin since November 2022 over concerns that the venture would be accessing "sensitive data at a very large scale." Though it was officially launched last Monday, Worldcoin has for the past two years been scanning irises around the globe into its database, an effort that the company says will connect human identity to individual biometric data and help users confirm that they are humans in the burgeoning age of artificial intelligence. By our count, now Germany, [France](), and the [United Kingdom]() have all launched investigations into it. And the project is [declining to pay users for their eye scans in the United States](), citing [regulatory issues](). ## Coin of the Realm There's a glimmer of an interesting idea in the project, but critiques abound. As [*Futurism*]() and [*Gizmodo*]() both noted when they sent reporters to get their irises scanned by the project, for instance, Orb operators didn't require any prior identification or verification that participants are who they say they are. Participants in the project's trial run in the developing world have said that they felt cheated by the exchange. And it's not clear whether a person can request to have their information scrubbed from the company's database, since it involves a blockchain. The company has been circulating a [white paper]() which claims that two separate firms have found that Worldcoin was secure on a number of fronts, including "data privacy, data leaking and information integrity." All the same, neither these European data watchdogs — and even [Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin](), whose [blockchain Worldcoin lives on]() — are convinced that this kind of "proof-of-personhood" project is ready for primetime. "If even one Orb manufacturer is malicious or hacked," Buterin wrote in a blog post about Worldcoin, "it can generate an unlimited number of fake iris scan hashes, and give them World IDs." Bottom line? Until we learn more about what makes Worldcoin tick and what it's doing with our data, we're not quite convinced. **More on data:** [*Godlike Hack Steals Encrypted Keys by Watching LED From 16 Meters Away*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()