Tools for Humanity, an identification start-up co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, is extending its ID services to the UK this week as part of a broader international expansion.

The company said retina-scanning “Orb” devices from its World Network project would be available in London from Thursday and would expand to other cities, including Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Belfast and Glasgow, in the coming months.

The retina scans create a unique digital ID that World says can prove someone is human and not an AI, in an era when increasingly sophisticated computer programs can be used to carry out fraud.

Iris scan

The spherical Orb devices are to be located at dedicated World premises including shopping malls and on high streets, Tools for Humanity said.

The firm said it plans to ramp up the production of Orbs, of which there currently about 1,500 in circulation, and to locate them with retailers for self-serve use similar to ATMs.

World ID can currently be used to sign into applications including Minecraft, Reddit and Discord.

So far about 13 million people in countries including Mexico, Germany, Japan, Korea, Portugal and Thailand have created World IDs.

World said in April it was expanding into six US cities with flagship stores in Austin, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Nashville, Miami and San Francisco.

When a person creates an ID they are also given a quantity of the project’s cryptocurrency, Worldcoin.

Tools for Humanity has faced scrutiny over privacy concerns, and said it has been meeting with data regulators including the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and privacy campaigners ahead of the launch.

Privacy

The service has been banned in jurisdictions including Spain and Hong Kong.

It has said it does not store personal or biometric information and that the verification data remains on the smartphone of the World ID holder.

The firm said it is planning to ship more than 12,000 Orb devices in the next 12 months.

Tools for Humanity chief architect Adrian Ludwig told US network NBC that the start-up is looking to increase World ID-verified people by an “order of magnitude” over the next few months.

Initially founded as Worldcoin, the firm rebranded to World Network last year.

It has secured hundreds of millions in venture capital funding since its launch in 2021.