ChatGPT founder accused of 'spying' in Africa for scanning people's eyes

Kenya has already ordered Worldcoin to stop registering new users. Photo: Jamie Lorriman

The company founded by the founder of ChatGPT was accused of «espionage» after scanning people's eyeballs in exchange for cryptocurrency.

A report from Kenyan MPs claims that Worldcoin, founded by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, poses a “threat to statehood.”

He recommended shutting down the project in a country where thousands of people are queuing up for retinal scans in exchange for £45 worth of cryptocurrency.

Kenya has already ordered Worldcoin to stop registering new users, warning about how data is stored and saying it is concerned about biometric information being exchanged for financial reward.

However, the app still works for existing users.

Other regulators, including the UK Information Commissioner's Office, have expressed concerns about the technology.

A report by a committee of Kenyan MPs set up to scrutinize Worldcoin said criminal authorities should investigate Tools for Humanity, the parent company of the project that Mr Altman chairs.

The Kenyan communications regulator has been advised to blacklist the Worldcoin website within the next week and suspend the company's physical presence in the country.

Worldcoin was founded by Sam Altman in 2019. Photo: Michael Reynolds/EPA

It also said the project's cryptocurrency ambitions pose a risk to Kenya's financial system.

Worldcoin describes itself as a «digital identity and financial network», positioning itself as a response to the development of artificial intelligence that will lead to large-scale fraud and identity fraud.

Using a ball the size of a football, it scans a person's retina to confirm their identity and establish an account.

The company signed up millions of people as it sought to expand its network around the world.

However, the company was accused of exploiting people in poorer countries by giving them Worldcoin tokens in exchange for scans.

The Kenyan committee said Worldcoin has more than 30 shares operating around the capital Nairobi.

It said the Worldcoin Foundation did not sign up to process Kenyans' data.

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“While Worldcoin claims that their primary intentions are identity verification and the establishment of World ID, their real intentions lean towards decentralization of the global monetary system,” the report states.

Worldcoin doesn't do this. response to request for comments. A spokesman told Reuters he had “not seen anything official announced by the committee directly.”

Mr Altman founded the company in 2019 with physicist Alex Blania and former financier Max Novendstern.

Worldcoin has about 150 spheres around the world, two of which are in London.