Iris recognition inference system

Iris feature extraction with 2D Gabor wavelets

A path to an open and permissionless identity protocol.

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The Worldcoin project is initiating an open and permissionless identity protocol called World ID. It empowers individuals to verify their humanness online while maintaining their anonymity through zero-knowledge proofs. Advancements in AI make it difficult to distinguish between AI and humans on the internet, highlighting a need for authentic human recognition and verification. To help address this, individuals can receive a future-proof unique human credential through a secure biometric device in a privacy-preserving manner. Importantly, this enables a path to AI-funded non-state UBI and the equitable global distribution of digital currencies. The project's early contributors have developed initial versions of a hardware device, a mobile client, and a deployment mechanism—all of which will gradually become decentralized. World ID will ultimately enable the protocol to be governed by the people, ensuring that the protocol benefits everyone.

"participants in the study could only distinguish between human or AI text with 50-52% accuracy, about the same random chance as a coin flip."; https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2208839120

https://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/FilteringOutTheBotsUnique2017NetNeutralityComments1024Update.pdf

Facial geometry mapping and audio style transfer facilitate digital impersonation via audio and video deep fakes. Notably, in 2022, Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, was impersonated by a deep fake. The attacker managed to conduct video conferences with several mayors of European capitals for up to 15 minutes. Some of the attacks were only uncovered days after the call. 

Democratic voting (one person one vote), quadratic voting, square root voting or any other weighting that requires the notion of a unique person see https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/08/16/voting3.html. Note that this is unlikely to replace the need to nevertheless prove relationships for certain applications.

Note that this doesn’t prevent users from creating a limited number of alternative accounts. Any platform could still allow several, but limited amounts of accounts to be created.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4105763

Note that the FPR (false positive rate of 1:N comparison against everyone who is enrolled) which can be approximated as N*FMR (false match rate for each individual 1:1 comparison) increases with the number of enrolled individuals. Therefore a false match rate of far beyond one in one billion is required to get to a global scale.

https://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~az/lectures/est/iris.pdf

Although minor aging effects can be observed, they are negligible and considerably less significant compared to the variability within the image capture process (source). Employing optimized hardware and software can improve image capture consistency.

Humanness
in the Age of AI

Biometric performance at a billion person scale

An introduction to zero-knowledge machine learning (ZKML)

After years of R&D, we’re opening up the Orb to explain how it works and releasing corresponding hardware engineering files.

Explanatory Note: Tools for Humanity (TFH) led the initial research and development of the Worldcoin protocol, including the Orb. This year, prior to the launch of the decentralized network, the non-profit Worldcoin Foundation is taking over responsibility for facilitating participation in, and the continued development of, the protocol. The Worldcoin Foundation will continue to support and grow the Worldcoin community until it becomes self-sufficient, while TFH will support the Foundation, including by manufacturing and shipping Orbs. Currently in beta, Worldcoin expects to launch in the first half of 2023.

Opening the Orb: 
A look inside Worldcoin’s biometric imaging device

Why Worldcoin Is Contributing to EIP-4844 development

The thinking, ideas, and technology behind a more human economic system.

The Worldcoin Blog

Iris recognition inference system

Iris feature extraction with 2D Gabor wavelets

Humanness in the Age of AI

Biometric performance at a billion person scale

An introduction to zero-knowledge machine learning (ZKML)

Opening the Orb: A look inside Worldcoin’s biometric imaging device

Why Worldcoin Is Contributing to EIP-4844 development

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