Sam Altman's Eye-Scanning Orb Is Now Coming to the US

Sam Altman's iris-scanning, identify-verification technology startup says it will begin expanding to the US starting May 1 and will launch a phone-like hardware device by next year. Those changes--and a promised World-branded debit card--signal the company's ambitions to develop a "super app"--a goal shared by Elon Musk. Altman and Alex Blania, a German physics researcher, announced at an event in San Francisco Wednesday evening that their venture-backed company, Tools for Humanity, is updating its "World" products to include a new, smaller, eye-scanning orb. The device-and-app combo scans people's irises, creates a unique user ID, stores that information on the blockchain, and uses it as a form of identity verification. If enough people adopt the app globally, the thinking goes, it could ostensibly thwart scammers.