Orb meets Zoom: Sam Altman's World rolls out 'proof of human' badges to out-bot the deepfakes 👁️

Zoom enterprise users worldwide can now verify that the faces on their video calls belong to actual humans, following the global launch of World ID for Zoom through the Zoom Marketplace. The feature, backed by Sam Altman's identity project World, was announced as available after a beta that started in April with VanEck Funds. The system relies on iris-scanning data captured by World's Orb device, comparing an enrolled image, a live selfie and the participant's active video feed before displaying a "Human Badge" to other attendees.

The rollout comes as companies grapple with a wave of AI-generated impersonation. In 2024, an employee at engineering firm Arup transferred about $25 million after scammers posed as executives during a video conference. In February, suspected North Korea-linked hackers used fabricated video feeds in fake Zoom meetings to trick crypto and fintech companies into installing malware. World also named Bain Capital, Pantera Capital and other financial firms as initial design partners for its broader identity verification technology, with co-founder Alex Blania unveiling the suite at the Money20/20 conference.

World ID for Zoom is one component of a larger suite aimed at banks and financial institutions, which bundles three tools backed by cryptographic proofs: Proof of Human, Proof of Presence and Proof of Attributes. The World's app functions as an identity wallet that allows users to present these proofs without revealing underlying personal data, letting institutions confirm a counterparty is a real, unique human without collecting or storing documents. The financial-sector design partners include Bain Capital, OpenExchange, Outtake, Pantera Capital and VanEck Funds.

"World ID for Zoom is designed to protect sensitive, high-stakes conversations by proving that a real and unique human is present," World said in a statement cited by Fortune. The company's native token, $WLD, rose more than 2% following the announcement amid renewed buying activity. World first announced its Zoom integration in April during limited beta testing and has now extended availability to all Zoom enterprise customers globally.