Sam Altman’s Eyeball-Scanning Crypto Startup Gets a New App Store

Sam Altman’s World is launching a pilot program that will pay developers who create “mini-apps” using its World ID authentication system. Starting April 1 and running for three months, the company will distribute $300,000 to qualifying developers based on usage of their apps, with World saying top-performing developers could earn up to $25,000 per week. Payments are made in the form of World’s own token but can be converted to other currencies. World, formerly known as Worldcoin, is the company behind a controversial orb-like device that scans a person’s iris to create a unique, encrypted digital code. Once created—you need to physically visit an orb and have your eyeball scanned—the idea is that individuals can authenticate themselves online without needing to hand over any personally identifying information. World sees this as addressing the problem of bots and inauthentic content proliferating online alongside the rise of artificial intelligence. A fix to the problem of bots figuri ... Read full article.