Sam Altman’s other startup is laying off workers

In a nutshell: Sam Altman’s Tools for Humanity, the company behind the iris-scanning technology designed to prove people aren’t bots while being paid in crypto for taking part, isn’t proving to be as successful as ChatGPT. A new report reveals that the startup is laying off workers as it struggles to convince regulators of its safety and prove it can generate a profit.

Business Insider reports that employees were informed of the cuts in an internal email from the HR team on Monday. The memo said the company was making changes to some roles and teams as part of a shift in strategy and operating priorities. Tools for Humanity is expected to explain more during a town hall meeting today.

The number of people affected has not been revealed. The company is believed to employ more than 500 workers, having raised hundreds of millions of dollars from backers including Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Crypto, Khosla Ventures, and Blockchain Capital. PitchBook has valued the startup at around $2.5 billion.

Tools for Humanity is best known for World, previously Worldcoin, and its Lord of the Rings-inspired Orb devices.

The idea behind the Orbs is that they scan a person’s iris, create a World ID that proves they are a unique human, and reward them with the WLD cryptocurrency.

In reality, convincing people to hand over biometric data to a company linked to one of the world’s most famous AI executives has always been a much tougher sell.

It was reported in November that World wants to reach 1 billion verified users, but at the time had only scanned less than 2% of its target. The company has talked about using World ID to distinguish humans from AI agents online, with Reddit named as one of the possible partners.

Regulators have also been a persistent problem for the firm. Several countries have investigated or restricted Worldcoin over privacy and biometric-data concerns, forcing the company to repeatedly defend how it stores and handles iris information. Tools for Humanity has also struggled to show how the Orb can become a sustainable revenue generator.

– Dr. Alexander Deicke (@AlexanderDeicke) April 3, 2024

World brought its iris-scanning technology and WLD token to the US in May 2025, initially debuting the Orb in six cities: Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco, with plans to deploy as many as 7,500 Orbs across the country. A year later, World is still operating in the US. The company is also pushing harder into corporate verification deals, recently announcing partnerships with Tinder, Zoom, and Docusign.