Behold, the Orb: I can't stop thinking about Sam Altman's dystopian eyeball-scanning device
- Small sculptural spheres called "Orbs" are devices integral to Sam Altman's latest concept.
- The Orbs can scan eyeballs of members joining the OpenAI founder's Worldcoin project.
You might think sobbing at a sold-out showing of the "Barbie" movie last weekend was enough proof you're human. In 2023, people are also apparently getting their retinas scanned by shining chrome orbs to prove it.
And yes, there are pictures.
That's because OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman trumpeted Worldcoin's launch on Monday, an effort he co-founded years earlier with Alex Blania to "enable universal access to the global economy," according to its website.
The orbs, shiny sculptural spheres that scan the eyeballs of new members, seem to have become the company's dystopian symbol. They help to provide users with "World IDs," records proving a person signing up is human and not AI, with the goal of moving through the internet more easily and accessing digital currency, according to the company.
Behold the Orb.
Its reflective surface warps any surrounding people and buildings around its circumference like an all-consuming fun house mirror ball. It's almost hypnotic — imagine holding its gaze as the Orb affirms your humanity.
Meanwhile, crypto paradise premise aside, Worldcoin has been tweeting (or X'ing?) photos of the objects against the backdrop of big cities. The choice to make it circular is interesting too – the Orb is the latest in the line of enigmatic orbs that have transfixed and disturbed observers on social media, like the beaming one Donald Trump was pictured holding with world leaders back in 2017.
But Worldcoin's Orbs look more like inscrutable machines than something mythological. One in Lisbon looks up in a scenic portrait with the Belém Tower. In Singapore, it shines in focus as the Marina Bay Sands hotel towers in the distance. There's an Orb flanked by palm trees in Miami, and another reflecting the sky in Tokyo.
A metal eye, designed to scan eyeballs, nestled in urban spaces. It'd be understandable if you thought it looked like something capable of surveilling and absorbing its surroundings. Even as a fictional sci-fi creation, it's borderline too on the nose.
On Twitter (now "X"), Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney pointed out the "pitchfork inside the orb" on the marketing design, and linked to an MIT Technology Review feature about the apparent roots of Worldcoin's efforts.
Worldcoin seems to have anticipated some of the more obvious critiques of the orb's dystopian aesthetic, and sought to provide reassurance.
You don't need to provide any personal information if you don't want to, its website says — besides, of course, the one pertaining to the insides of your eyes. The "World ID" itself doesn't contain any iris-related data, according to the company. And the eyeball scans get erased, according to Worldcoin.
"Each aspect of Worldcoin is designed with privacy as a focal point," a representative said in a statement to Insider on Tuesday.
Misgivings or not, some two million people have signed up already, according to Worldcoin, which has articulated a goal to address economic inequality through AI. (The company says it plans to give out a "new digital token freely to billions of people.").
It's not clear yet if the tech can solve yet another complex, systemic problem in the blink of an eye. But the orbs are here now, beckoning to us all.
For now, I'll stick to staring at pictures of it.