--- title: "OpenAI CEO Raising $100 Million to Scan Every Eyeball on Earth" description: "Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is raising $100 million for his startup that scans eyeballs and gives out crypto." date: "2023-05-15" modified: "2023-05-15" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/sam-altman-openai-eyeball-scanning" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "crypto" - "OpenAI" - "sam altman" - "the digest" --- # OpenAI CEO Raising $100 Million to Scan Every Eyeball on Earth ![Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is raising $100 million for his startup that scans eyeballs and gives out crypto.]() *\Image: Worldcoin\* ## Eye Opener Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, apparently has more up his sleeve than [bringing about the AI apocalypse](). As the [*Financial Times* reports](), Altman is in advanced talks to secure around $100 million for Worldcoin, another of his ventures. Worldcoin's promise is hazy at best, but seems to involve scanning everybody's eye and giving them some amount of crypto. The [project's verbiage]() invokes OpenAI's vision of powerful automation that will lead to an era of plenty, promising it will usher in a "path to AI-funded UBI." That may sound ambitious to the point of science fiction, but given the ongoing crypto crisis, it's surprising to see investors willing to put any serious money into a blockchain venture — or at the very least, demonstrates the buzz around everything Altman touches. ## Launch Issues Founded in 2019 and [made public in 2021](), Worldcoin has kept a pretty low profile compared to OpenAI, particularly since the launch of ChatGPT. But it's nevertheless captured the attention of investors, three people familiar with the fundraising told the *FT*. As outlandish as the whole idea sounds, it's apparently gaining at least some steam. [*Fortune* reported]() in March that roughly 40,000 people are getting their irises scanned with the company's orb-shaped device per week, totaling around 1.4 million registrants globally at the time. Of course, that's only a minuscule trickle compared to the 8 billion people on the planet, and [reporting by *BuzzFeed News*]() found last year that some of those who have signed up so far have said they felt "robbed" by the experience. Long story short, we're not entirely convinced by this also-ran Altman experiment. But he proved all the haters wrong with ChatGPT, and it's certainly worth noting that he's managing to raise any funds at all for a crypto venture these days. "It’s a bear market, a crypto winter," one of the *FT*'s sources told it. "It’s remarkable for a project in this space to get this amount of investment." **More on tech CEO shenanigans:** [*There’s an Interesting Theory About Why Zuckerberg Wasted Billions on the Metaverse*]() ## 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]()