Adrian Ludwig, chief architect at Tools for Humanity (TFH), has shared information on the rapid development of the global network – a system designed to create a network of verified humans using technology preserving confidentiality, in an exclusive interview with Beincrypto in Seoul.
As a supervisor of technology and strategy through TFH, global operators and global applications, Ludwig provides vast expertise in the project. Before joining TFH, he was director of the Ciso and Chief trust at Atlassian and Android security director at Google, where he protected more than 2 billion Android users.
Ludwig, which defends openness and decentralization as an organizational cornerstone, has discussed how the global network has evolved beyond its initial identity verification methodology to meet the critical challenges in today’s internet landscape, from the proliferation of robots to confidentiality problems in digital identity systems.
Read more: What is the World Project?
The global project is well known for its identity verification methodology. Could you provide an update on what happened recently with the project?
The project has progressed in several areas. In terms of technology, our most important achievement has been around confidentiality. We introduced ampc about a year ago, using a secure multipartite calculation to distribute biometric data between several parts, ensuring that no part has access.
We have integrated zero knowledge of knowledge, allowing proof of personality without revealing information. Since October, we have incorporated national identity cards of around 25 jurisdictions, including the United States and South Korea.
Our infrastructure has increased quickly – on 30 locations in South Korea and around 500 worldwide, with plans to extend to thousands by the middle of the year. This resulted in 12 million verified users.
We have launched mini applications that exploit both crypto and identity layers. The global application now serves more than 25 million users, making it one of the largest cryptographic portfolios. We have also launched World Chain, our Blockchain LAYER 2 focused on scalability, which is already classified among the first in the volume of transactions.
Orb technology seems to be an innovative approach to identity verification. How do you see people and businesses using this technology?
Our vision includes flagship locations and smaller spaces like cafes. We have presented the program of citizen operators where local operators can execute independently of orbs. We also work towards a self-service model, allowing verification without assistance to staff. Since the design of the orb is open source, anyone can build one.
The basic problem we are talking about is to preserve online integrity against boots. For example, Wikipedia’s infrastructure costs have increased by 50% due to the scratching of bots. In the game, players prefer human opponents – more than 80% of South Korean respondents supported biometric verification. Our partnership with Razer integrates World ID into games, guaranteeing human -centered interactions for which the platforms are ready to pay.
Beyond the differentiation of robots humans, what other precious use cases do you see for World ID technology?
We note a strong interest around proof of age, which is essential for regulatory compliance without requesting complete personal details such as the name or identification number. It is a good adjustment for our zero-connoissance test systems.
Another category involves regional access control. Taiwan explores how digital services can be limited to verified citizens, especially in sensitive political communities. The concern is that foreign actors pretended to be citizens to influence discourse.
World ID could serve as an infrastructure for aging, nationality and potentially a wide range of skills titles while keeping privacy.
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How do you envisage the world of World ID alongside national identity systems and government infrastructure?
We are in active conversations with several governments on the integration of their national identification systems at World ID. These discussions are still early, but we have had productive exchanges with countries like Malaysia and others.
Governments are interested in the global identification of regulatory compliance, allowing companies to verify attributes such as age without collecting personal data. They are also interested in the prevention of fraud – since World ID determines the world’s uniqueness, it can help detect double identities in service programs, quickly checking the millions of people.
In addition, governments want their citizens to access global services without disclosing sensitive information. With World ID, citizens could prove qualifications without revealing citizenship status or identification details, allowing access to preserving confidentiality to international services.
Some people express concerns about the biometric data security. How does World ID respond to these concerns and protect user confidentiality?
It is understandable that people fear what they do not fully understand. The orb is essentially a high resolution camera that takes a photo – nothing more – and this image is immediately transmitted to the user.
We have taken two major measures to ensure confidentiality and security. First of all, all data is encrypted using the strongest methods available. Second, the data is divided between several parts using a secure multipartite calculation, which means that no single entity – not even us – has full access to your biometric data.
Compare this to when you enter a theme park where they take your photo. You don’t know where this image is going or how it is stored. Our system is much more secure and preserving confidentiality.
World ID follows a different data philosophy aligned with Web3 values. You control your data. It is not a question of surveillance – it is simply a question of verifying that you are human.
With your experience in web2 and web3 environments, how would you describe the unique approach of the world to confidentiality?
The world is built as a protocol, with decentralization and an opening at the base. Confidentiality and security are cooked in the design, it doesn’t matter who exploits it.
Our standard is: “If someone I do not trust must have deployed this protocol, can I still trust the system?” The answer must be yes. This is the only way to build global infrastructure.
Take the Orb – We are making it now, but future manufacturers will enter space. As a user, I should not have to trust each manufacturer individually. I should only have to trust cryptography and the underlying protocol.
This is the web3 approach – Code self -confidence, not intermediaries. Web2 companies operate in a centralized model, where users must trust the entity that operates the platform.
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