Monologue: Sam Altman's BS Eye Scanning Startup

Summary

Podcast Title: Better Offline
Host/Author: Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts
Episode: Monologue: Sam Altman's BS Eye Scanning Startup
Release Date: May 9, 2025

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Introduction

In the May 9, 2025 episode of Better Offline, host Ed Zitron delivers a scathing monologue titled "Sam Altman's BS Eye Scanning Startup." This episode delves deep into the controversial project known as World, spearheaded by Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. Ed Zitron meticulously dissects the project's intentions, execution, and broader implications for society and the tech industry.

Unveiling "World" by Tools for Humanity

Ed begins by introducing World, a project described by its creators as "a network of real humans built on an anonymous proof of human and globally inclusive financial network." (00:54) However, Zitron is quick to dismiss this jargon-laden description, labeling it as a "slew of buzzwords" intended to mask the project's true nature—a collection of subpar applications necessitating users to undergo an invasive eye-scanning procedure.

Notable Quote:

"I want to die. Anyway, this slew of buzzwords is meant to distract you from what World really is a collection of extremely shitty apps that requires you to scan your eyeball for some reason." (00:54)

The Eye-Scanning Process and Accessibility Issues

A critical aspect of World is its reliance on biometric data collection through eye scans. To participate, users must visit one of the 7,000 orbs distributed globally. Zitron points out the limited and seemingly arbitrary distribution of these orbs, located in countries like Thailand, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador, while notably absent from regions like France, the United Kingdom, and Australia—likely due to stringent local regulations.

Notable Quote:

"New users sign up by using one of 7,000 orbs scattered throughout the world to scan their eyeballs... they didn't really go anywhere. On top of the obvious privacy concerns of millions of people creating a giant biometric database of their eyes." (Multiple timestamps)

Critique of Worldcoin and Its Token Economics

Upon signing up, users receive 16 Worldcoin (WLD) tokens, valued at 91 cents each at the time of the monologue. Zitron challenges the practicality of this incentive, questioning the value exchanged for biometric data. He likens Worldcoin's approach to past cryptocurrency scams, emphasizing the lack of a sustainable business model or meaningful application beyond token distribution.

Notable Quote:

"World's app is a boring collection of crypto adjacent bullshit, the kind of which I thought we'd abandoned five years ago." (09:45)

Ethical and Privacy Concerns

Zitron raises significant red flags regarding the ethical implications of Worldcoin's data collection practices. He cites a 2022 MIT Technology Review report highlighting that local orb operators were incentivized with commissions for each biometric scan, often operating in vulnerable regions. This model transforms them into data collection agents, profiting from individuals who may not fully understand the implications of sharing their biometric information.

Notable Quote:

"Orb would hire local orb operators to sign people up and I quote, receiving commission for each person's biometric data that they collect, turning them into the equivalent of door-to-door salesman... trying to take pictures of your eyes." (05:30)

Comparisons to Existing Identification Systems

Drawing parallels to India's Aadhaar program, Zitron argues that creating a comprehensive biometric identification system does not necessitate blockchain or cryptocurrency integration. Aadhaar, established 16 years ago, successfully linked biometric data to unique identifiers without the baggage associated with Worldcoin's approach.

Notable Quote:

"India managed to accomplish this without crypto or the blockchain. I'm sure it's not perfect, I'm sure that there are critics of it, but it's definitely better than World." (10:15)

Assessing the App Ecosystem and Market Viability

Despite claims of housing 150 apps, Zitron reveals that World only boasts 63, primarily revolving around cryptocurrency functionalities or verification services tied to World IDs. He criticizes the quality and utility of these applications, comparing them unfavorably to established platforms, and underscores the redundancy of features already available elsewhere.

Notable Quote:

"World's App Store is nonsense and to talk about it as a real app store is journalistic malpractice. Come the fuck on." (11:50)

The Illusion of Innovation and Media Influence

Zitron contends that World capitalizes on Sam Altman's reputation to gain media traction and investor funding, despite lacking tangible progress or innovation. He underscores a broader flaw in the tech industry's ecosystem, where companies can secure significant investments and media coverage without delivering substantive products or solutions.

Notable Quote:

"If Sam Altman was not involved with this, this wouldn't get coverage and it would never have raised money. And frankly, I think everyone would be making fun of it." (11:00)

Conclusion: A Cautionary Tale of Tech Overreach

Ed Zitron concludes his monologue by declaring Worldcoin a "farce" and a "cynical con," lamenting the tech industry's propensity to obfuscate and exploit without delivering genuine value. He warns listeners of the dangers posed by unchecked technological ventures that prioritize hype and data extraction over ethical considerations and meaningful innovation.

Notable Quote:

"World is a farce. It's another cynical con. Yes, Hal, peddled by a cynical con man." (12:30)

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Final Thoughts

Ed Zitron's impassioned critique serves as a stark reminder of the ethical challenges and potential pitfalls inherent in the rapid advancement of technology. By dissecting Sam Altman's Worldcoin project, Zitron not only exposes the flaws and questionable motives behind it but also calls for greater accountability and transparency within the tech industry to safeguard societal interests.

Transcript

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[Ed Zitron]

Hello and welcome to this week's Better Offline Monologue. I'm your host Ed Zitron. Last week Sam Altman sort of debuted his latest idea, a project called World that claims to be, and this is a direct quote, a network of real humans built on an anonymous proof of human and globally inclusive financial network. I want to die. Anyway, this slew of buzzwords is meant to distract you from what World really is a collection of extremely shitty apps that requires you to scan your eyeball for some reason. Now the company behind World is called Tools for Humanity, an annoying name for a company with an annoying tagline that claims they're building for humans in the age of AI. I note that literally every software company is by definition building for humans, unless there is a dog version of word I didn't know about. Anyway, back to Altman's latest bullshit. New users sign up by using one of 7,000 orbs scattered throughout the world to scan their eyeballs. Even though it's worth mentioning that the official website only lists 8, 137 locations with the specialist hardware required, and they're in a seemingly random bunch of countries. Thailand, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador are all listed, but France and the United Kingdom and Australia are not, I imagine due to local laws. Or maybe just they didn't want to bother. It never is obvious with these people. When a user signs up they receive 16 Worldcoin or WLD tokens. These are worth, at the time of writing this script, 91 cents. That's a pretty low price to give a random startup a scan of your unique retina patterns. But whatever user accounts are registered on the blockchain, which is for some reason a good thing. And when I read that, I had to convince myself that I Hadn't time traveled back to 2017 or 2021 or another time when scam artists were running around this rampantly. You may be wondering what the point of all of this is. And from what I can tell is it's an attempt to create some sort of verified identification system where companies connect to World systems and can guarantee that each user is real. And I'm really guessing here because World does not seem that interested in explaining. By verifying your identity using this giant metal orb, you get access to a suite of mini apps including the ability to buy stuff with crypto, create human only telegram groups, top up a prepaid cell phone using crypto, earn crypto for working out, livestream from your world account, play shitty mobile games or dorso use a crypto. Well it really all of this is just a series of very poorly done apps and they're all basically crypto apps or something to do with spending your world coins. And for all the pomp, circumst and bullshit press, Walt's actual product is the same kind of mediocre bottom of the barrel crypto bullshit that scam art is Wahockin in 2021 with the veneer of respectability given by Sam Altman and his marketers in place to make sure the media actually covers it. I should note that you can do all these things already without the additional layer of biometric verification or anything to do with the blockchain. Now, according to Mr. Altman, and faithfully parroted without a single thought, not one by Kevin Roose of the New York Times and Alex Heath of the Verge, worldcoin and I quote, Heath could be used as a form of universal basic income for individuals whose jobs have been replaced by AI. How? Where's the money coming from, Sam? How would that work? What does any of that mean? Who knows, Just. Just write the fucking quote down, I guess. Just say it. We don't all have our own personal Masayoshi son to lend us $40 billion whenever we want. It's just. It's incoherent. Nevertheless, Mr. Roos of the Times. Mr. Roos went on to say that Altman and Alex Blainey are co founder believe that something like worldcoin will be needed to distribute the proceeds and powerful AI systems to humans. Perhaps in the form of, you guessed it and that's my addition, universal basic income. And I know, I mean I know I bag on Mr. Roos a lot, I know I'm merciless with him, but come on man, how, how? What does that even mean, man? When is a tech company ever distributed the proceeds of anything, especially one run by Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, a company built on stealing people's shit and trying to take their jobs. It's just, I don't know, man. Like, I try not to be so much of a hater, but you see this shit and you, like Kevin Roose is ostensibly not an idiot. Like, why wouldn't you just say, hey, yeah, they say they want this to be universal basic income, but they haven't described why or how or even what the practicalities are. And that's a problem that would be a good thing for the New York Times to discuss. But no, we need to keep the column going, don't we? Kevin Tech companies are notorious for engaging in complex tax avoidance schemes precisely because they don't like distributing the proceeds of their activities, which normal people call paying our fair share of tax mechanisms designed to tax. These companies engaging in aggressive tax avoidance practices are now referred to as the Google Tax precisely because tech companies are the worst offenders. And I've often said that OpenAI's success is based on impossible things happening, like a company kind of raising more money than any startup has ever raised in perpetuity until some yet unseen breakthrough in maths or semiconductor engineering happens and allows it to essentially crawl into the black. But not without first burning hundreds of billions of dollars. This is basically what World appears to be as well, except with far less effort. Like, I guess we're going to put all the eyes in the machine and then something will happen, right? Wrong. Nothing's happening. World has actually been around for a few years and they've been doing some really nasty stuff behind the scenes, according to Eileen Guo and adi Rinaldi of MIT Technology Review, who reported in 2022 and I'll be linking in the episode notes that Orb would hire local orb operators to sign people up and I quote, receiving commission for each person's biometric data that they collect, turning them into the equivalent of a door to door salesman. But instead of knives or Kirby vacuums, they're trying to take pictures of your eyes. These operators, according to Tech Review, barely knew what they were selling, what worldcoin did or how the information was collected, what was done, were there any of this stuff? World preyed upon people in developing and often poor countries like Indonesia, Kenya, Sudan and Ghana, where people might be tempted with what might be considered by Western standards a pittance to scan their eyes and download the app. As an aside, by the way, worldcoin is now banned in both Spain and Hong Kong. Almost every article about World takes their idea at face value that this is a company verifying people's identity using their eyes, and that they will, as a result, be able to connect this to a verified idatabase and then do something. Just some. Something will. Then something will happen. It's good to verify people, because AI bots, right? Right. I mean, social networks are. They're full of bots. And this will stop that somehow, won't it? Yeah, I mean, I want to be clear that this whole thing is extra normally fucking stupid, and nobody would have paid attention, even an iota of attention to it if Sam Altman wasn't attached. And we know that because if you search for biometric blockchain verification funding on Google with the verbatim option turned on, you see a bunch of companies that have also tried to do exactly the same thing over the past few years. And while they raised the odd million here or there, especially during the 2021, 2022, they didn't really go anywhere. On top of the obvious privacy concerns of millions of people creating a giant biometric database of their eyes, World's ideas are somewhere between also rants and complete fucking nonsense. World has raised $115 million at a $3 billion valuation, yet has built no infrastructure of apps, no real business model, and nothing other than an aggressive attempt to gather millions of people's eyeballs. They do also have an upcoming Visa debit card to use your crypto without first converting it into fiat currency, which is an idea that's extre old and has been done many, many times over the years. Oh, and they're also going to allow you to verify your identity on Tinder, which is a feature that Tinder already offers. And really, though biometric verification is already a thing, there's something called passkeys, which are already being offered as a replacement to passwords on a bunch of sites like Amazon, I think Best Buy as well. They work by storing a cryptographic key, not cryptocurrency, cryptographic. It's the maths one. And they store it on your device, which is something you already have, and verify that against something that you can't easily spoof, like a scan of your face and what face ID does, or fingerprints. And yes, your iris is in some cases. And, well, World wants to offer exactly that, but you have to use some giant eye scanner thing that you have to physically travel to, one only available in a handful of countries, and give your data to a man who loves to lie and make himself more money. And while it's true that some in the developing world lack any formal identification and that in turn makes it harder for them to access travel documents, banking services and government services. We don't need Sam Altman to solve that problem. India solved this almost 16 years ago with its Aadhaar program, which now covers 99.9% of the adult population. Aadhaar gives Indian citizens a 12 digit unique identifier which is linked to their biometric information, and India managed to accomplish this without crypto or the blockchain. I'm sure it's not perfect, I'm sure that there are critics of it, but it's definitely better than World. And also it's old news and it's not exciting even though it worked. Let's talk about Sam Altman and whatever the fuck he's up to now. Some people, Alex Heath, have also said that world's platform has over 150 apps, but neglected to check if that was the case. It appears there are only 63 of them, with the vast majority of them being either a crypto app or an app that otherwise verifies you using your World id. It's kind of like how Android has always had more apps than iOS, but they are often low quality, like app based wrappers of websites you already can read in your browser or trivial ones like a flashlight app. Now to be clear, this is also something that happens on iOS now because Apple doesn't give a rat fuck. Nevertheless, nevertheless, World's App Store is nonsense and to talk about it as a real app store is journalistic malpractice. Come the fuck on. I'm sick of this. If Sam Altman was not involved with this, this wouldn't get coverage and it would never have raised money. And frankly, I think everyone would be making fun of it. Now. I've read about 15 different articles about World to write this monologue, and I was hoping I'd find just a smidgen of information about this company that would somehow show depth or substance or something other than Sam Altman is working on something. And I'm gonna be honest, I came up short. And what you just heard there was my cat Howell, who's decided to join me for this episode. World is a farce. It's another cynical con. Yes, Hal, peddled by a cynical con man. 20% of world's tokens have, according to MIT Tech Review, already been allocated to their full employees and investors, and I cannot find any good reason why this thing even needs a token. In fact, I really can't find a cogent reason for this company to exist. I don't see a business model or even much of a product. World's app is a boring collection of crypto adjacent bullshit, the kind of which I thought we'd abandoned five years ago. Their token is yet another phony attempt to connect privacy to the blockchain, which is ridiculous because the blockchain is just a type of database and their mission is almost contemptuous in its vagueness. World feels like something propped up to specifically to absorb data, venture capital and media attention, and inadvertently proves that something is broken in society that allows companies to raise money to do nothing and use the media as their marketing arm. In a just society, Sam Altman would be laughed out of the building or unceremoniously launched headfirst from the top of it. In ours, he's celebrated for his vacuousness, his ideas championed as some sort of altruistic blueprint for the future. Good grief.

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[Chelsea Handler]

This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, Connie Britton is here. I think you should encourage your friend to go ahead and not be holding out for any man to have her baby. She could be waiting another 10 years before she finds the right guy. Connie didn't meet her right guy until you were what, 50? Connie 52.

[Ed Zitron]

52 52. I kept thinking oh, I'm gonna meet the guy. I'm gonna meet the guy. I'm gonna meet the guy. I finally was like, what am I waiting for? And I did it. And I'm just so glad that I did.

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Listen to Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, and I'm the host of the On Purpose podcast, and I'm excited for my next episode with Khloe Kard.

[Ed Zitron]

God, I've been through so many things that at this point, I would rather not feel than feel, because feeling is too much for me to handle. I am Khloe Kardashian. Khloe Kardashian, everybody. Khloe Kardashian. No one understands how it's.

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