Sam Altman’s World Targets Deepfake Fraud With New Banking Tools

World, the iris-scanning identity project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, announced on Sunday a set of World ID tools that let banks and financial firms confirm a real person is on the other end of a call.

The rollout targets deepfake fraud and also covers AI agents acting on behalf of verified users.

World ID Brings Human Badges to Zoom and Finance Firms

In a post on X, World pointed to a 2024 case in which an employee at engineering firm Arup transferred $25.6 million after joining a video call where every other participant was a deepfake. Impersonation has grown more convincing since, the company noted, while autonomous agents are taking on more financial activity.

Zoom participants can confirm they are the same Orb-verified human connected to their account. Those who clear the checks appear with a small blue badge, and companies decide when to require it.

“World ID for Zoom is designed to protect sensitive, high-stakes conversations by proving that a real and unique human is present,” World stated.

A second tool, World ID for agents, lets AI agents carry Proofs delegated by people. Chief Product Officer Tiago Sada likened it to a power of attorney and explained that each user can assign credentials to only one trusted agent, which merchants can treat as the person’s alter ego.

Bain Capital, OpenExchange, Outtake, Pantera Capital and VanEck Funds are the initial design partners. According to a company spokesperson, the financial firms will keep Orb devices in their offices for employees who have not yet had their irises scanned. Not every check needs a scan, though: the lowest of three tiers relies on government documents, while the top one, Proof of Human, matches a selfie against the Orb record.

The football-sized Orb encrypts each scan so World cannot read it, and no central database of individuals exists. Sada compared the wariness around iris scans to early reactions to Apple’s Touch ID and facial verification:

“People understand you don’t have to give Sam or any of us your photo… Everything is open source and auditable.”

Rival Agent Tools and WLD Price Action

Amazon and JPMorgan have started blocking bots outright, a tactic Sada claimed would limit companies in agentic commerce. Cloudflare is working on the same problem: In August, it announced an agent ID tool and a wallet for agents, and Chief Strategy Officer Stephanie Cohen tied the launch to bots being treated as a business opportunity.

Despite the integrations with Zoom and major financial firms, World’s latest announcement does not appear to have done much for its native token, WLD. The cryptocurrency was trading at around $0.49 at the time of writing, down 0.7% in 24 hours and more than 11% in seven days, although it had gained over 14% in 30 days.

Furthermore, WLD is still nearly 96% below its all-time high of $11.74. Recall that in June, it fell more than 10% to $0.34, even after a $52.5 million funding round to expand World ID infrastructure.