Love or Laser Eyes? Sam Altman and Match Group Try to Out-Catfish the Bots!

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Once upon a swipe, Sam Altman—of “please-scan-your-eyeball-for-the-greater-good” fame—has gotten his World project into bed with none other than Match Group, corporate overlords of every dating app that has ever ghosted you. Yes, that Match Group—Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, and the tragically named Plenty of Fish. (Still unclear what that pond contains.) 🐟

On May 1, worlds will literally collide (see what I did there?), as Altman’s retina-fondling blockchain jumps the fence into the playground of love. The plan: cram World’s ID system into Match Group’s suite of dating apps, basically Sherlock-ing out who’s a real person and who’s another AI with abs that were Photoshopped by someone in Belarus.

Apparently, it starts with our friends in Japan on Tinder—because if anyone’s ready for iris-scanning romance, it’s people with the cultural patience to wait for cherry blossoms to bloom. These lucky singles will get to prove they’re actual humans instead of bots programmed to say “Hey 😊” and then disappear for eternity. Privacy remains intact, unless you consider your eyeball data sacred—then it’s more of an “oops.”

World’s official statement went heavy with the self-help: “As AI continues to advance…” (translation: “We’ve all dated a robot, let’s not make it a habit.”) In their view, technology finds you a date, but it’s your job to prevent it being with a toaster.

Fun fact: 62% of survey respondents in the US confess to getting catfished, and let’s not talk about what percentage still sent money. Most of the victims are women, many young, and probably all cursing the invention of filters and voice changers.

So, how does World ID help? “Proof of Human,” their latest nightmare device, scans your iris (yes, really) via something called the Orb. It’s basically the DMV, but for love, and with slightly better lighting. It spits out a code proving you’re not AI—at least, not yet. 👀

Before you rush out with your best pupil, it’s worth mentioning that not everyone loves a dating app with biometric mood lighting. Hong Kong and Brazil called foul, claiming it slurped up more faces and eyeballs than an amateur horror movie, so privacy folks, your mileage may vary.

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2025-05-02 14:32