Sam Altman’s World ID Wins Major Brand Partners

Tools for Humanity, the iris-scanning company co-founded by Sam Altman, is partnering with well-known brands to promote its World ID, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday (Feb. 26).

“I think we’re right at the precipice right now of the moment where we don’t have to say anything, where our partners are going to do all the talking,” said Tools for Humanity Chief Business Officer Trevor Traina, per the report.

Tools for Humanity uses a device called an Orb to take images of a person’s face and eyes, converts those images into a string of numbers stored on the person’s device, and enables the person to use that World ID to prove that they are human, according to the report.

The company was founded in 2019 to protect online transactions, per the report.

In one collaboration, Tools for Humanity installed an Orb in a Gap store in San Francisco to draw the attention of the city’s tech company employees, according to the report. Gap does not use World ID in its business.

Tinder is testing World ID in Japan to verify the identity and age of users of its dating app. The company tried the solution to combat bots and fake accounts and to comply with Japan’s law that requires dating apps to verify users’ ages. It has seen thousands of users sign up for the ID, per the report.

A third Tools for Humanity partnership is one with Visa in which the two companies plan to develop a payment card that will let the holders of a World ID spend digital assets, including Tools for Humanity’s Worldcoin. The companies initially planned to release the card in 2025, but they are still working on it, according to the report.

World initially launched its digital identity effort outside the United States before bringing it to the country in April.

At the time of the official U.S. launch, Altman said the company’s tech was “a way to make sure humans remained central and special in a world where the internet had a lot of AI-driven content.”

In December, World updated its World App to include a native chat function, payments and third-party apps.