SAN FRANCISCO — World, the iris-scanning project co-founded by Sam Altman, has announced a banking and finance initiative designed to help businesses verify whether artificial intelligence agents making purchases or moving money are acting on behalf of a real person.
The announcement comes as identity verification and authentication is drawing big attention from financial institutions, fintech companies, payments providers and merchants at the Money20/20 conference in Las Vegas.
World, formerly known as Worldcoin, described the initiative, announced Oct. 18, as its first industry-specific push.
According to a company release, World’s AgentKit, now in beta testing, allows people to delegate World ID proofs to an AI agent. The agent can present those credentials to a website or service without disclosing the person’s information, World said.
The company said the technology gives merchants and financial institutions a way to distinguish agents connected to verified humans from anonymous automated traffic, which some websites are blocking.
World said it views the offering as infrastructure for establishing trust in transactions and other sensitive requests as AI agents take on more tasks for consumers.
Zoom Toll Launched
The company also announced World ID for Zoom, available through the Zoom App Marketplace, to help verify the identity of participants in sensitive video meetings.
After completing a one-time verification using World’s Orb device, participants can authenticate before or during a call using a live selfie, according to the release.
World’s broader offering includes a new World ID app, available in more than 150 countries, that lets users manage credentials the company calls “Proofs of Human, Presence, and Attributes.”
The company said its approach is intended to help institutions establish trust in interactions involving people and AI agents while limiting disclosure to the information needed for a particular interaction.
