Sam Altman’s blockchain project World has sparked controversy in the past due to its use of iris-scanning technology to create digital identities. But World Foundation Advisor Liam Horne says that the controversy around that technology, known as orbs, is often misunderstood.
It’s “actually the complete opposite,” of what critics share regarding World or Altman owning that data, Horne said on Wednesday at a panel at Consensus 2025. “The data literally never leaves the orb.”
The World Network uses its orbs — chrome, bowling ball-shaped devices —to perform iris scans that verify an individual’s unique identity as part of a system called „proof-of-personhood.” When a user looks into an orb, the device maps their iris and immediately converts the biometric into a privacy-preserving address known as a World ID, that proves that a user is a real, unique human being, rather than a bot.
The project has faced scrutiny across multiple jurisdictions, with regulators in Europe,
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