Reddit's Bold Move: Teaming Up with Sam Altman's World ID to Tackle AI and Age Verification

Biometric Breakthrough: Iris Scans to Keep Reddit Real and Anonymous

Hang onto your hats, folks! Reddit is diving into the deep end with Sam Altman's World ID to combat the relentless wave of AI, age verification laws, and bot madness. They're eyeing a partnership that'll let them verify users while keeping their anonymity intact. We're talking about a slick biometric system that scans your irises without hoarding your personal data. It's a game-changer for proving you're a unique human and of legal age, all without blowing your privacy cover—a necessity as regulators and brainiacs start poking around social platforms' identity issues.

Word on the street, from Semafor, is that Reddit's been chatting up World ID's parent company about bringing this biometric magic to the platform. Two insiders spilled the beans on these ongoing talks.

Imagine being able to prove you're one-of-a-kind on Reddit without spilling the beans about who you are. That's the dream this partnership is chasing.

Reddit's head honcho, Steve Huffman, dropped a bombshell last month, saying Reddit's gotta verify users are real humans and old enough to party, thanks to the AI beast and those pesky age laws.

"We're gonna fight tooth and nail to keep Reddit human and anonymous," Huffman declared on the platform. Talk about a mission statement!

The heat's on, especially after those University of Zurich eggheads used AI to impersonate real Redditors in some freaky persuasion experiments. Reddit's lawyers weren't messing around, hitting the university with a legal smackdown in April over their unauthorized shenanigans.

And let's not forget, multiple U.S. states are rolling out laws demanding internet giants check user ages, putting the squeeze on the whole social media scene.

World ID's got a slick solution to these verification headaches, using some next-level cryptographic wizardry. Their Orb gadget scans your irises, whipping up encrypted snapshots that are chopped up and stashed on secret servers around the globe.

Think about it: to swipe your iris data, hackers would have to break into a bunch of systems, piece together the puzzle, and reverse-engineer the scan. And even if they pulled it off, they'd still be left scratching their heads because there's no link between the biometric data and your actual identity.

Once you're authenticated, you snag a unique World ID, tucked away in a fortress-like encrypted vault on your device. Plus, the Orb's got a built-in age cop that won't even scan you if it thinks you're under 18.

Here's the kicker: Reddit's planning to offer World ID as just one of several verification options. You can pick what suits your privacy and security vibes best.

World ID, the brainchild of Altman's Tools for Humanity with their iris-scanning "Orbs," officially hit the scene alongside Worldcoin (WLD) on July 24, 2023. They've ditched the beta label and are now spreading their wings to cities across the globe.