AI boss Sam Altman releases tools to stop ticket scalping

Sam Altman is one of the key figures of the apparent upcoming AI-dismantling-of-society-as-we-know-it race, but his start-up Tools for Humanity has come up with a solution for an actual problem you may have faced — gig ticket scalpers.

Tools for Humanity has announced something called Concert Kit, sold as an antidote to bots who buy up massive numbers of gig tickets to be sold on the resale market at a massive markup.

The concept is a ticket allocation will be reserved for folks who have already had their ID verified using the company’s World ID tech.

“Use World ID to prove you are a unique human, without revealing anything else about you,” claims the service’s website.

The idea is this system proves you are a real, legit person, not a bot or some sort of AI creation. And it’s also intended for use in app-based dating and video chat services like Zoom, where you can no longer be 100 per cent sure you’re actually talking to a real person. Because that’s the world we live in nowadays.

Meet The Orb

But here’s where it all gets a big 1990s sci fi Hollywood dystopia again — Tools for Humanity’s ID tech uses a camera blob called The Orb, which scans your eyes and face to create, and check, your unique ID. And it does look a bit like it could have been lifted straight out of the dystopian video game Half-Life 2.

Of course, the real-world implementation of this is more likely to mean getting a face scan using your phone’s selfie camera most of the time, rather than one of those cute-slash-ominous The Orb things.

But if Tools for Humanity gets its way, we’ll be seeing more The Orbs about the place in public before too long.

Zoom has also announced an integration with the company’s World ID tech, the headline goal of which is "real-time human verification to confirm participants are real people.”

Deep Face is the core tech here, which looks for signs a person in a video call might be a deep fake, with “the option to request an on-demand check of any participant during a call.” Yikes.

Is this a case of the AI tech bros trying to sell us a solution to problems they’ve largely created? Sure is. But when acts like Harry Styles can somehow sell out 12-night runs at the 90,000 capacity Wembley Stadium, measures that tip the odds in real fans’ favour are welcome.

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