On Tuesday, Ashley and I did our usual morning walk where we grab coffee somewhere and chat about our plans for the day. Today we decided to stop by Little Sweet on 3rd Ave and Geary. This time we noticed something a bit different. By the counter, we spotted a white sphere that looked like a big eyeball. There was a sign above it that said “In an internet full of bots, prove you’re human. Scan QR to get started.”

Color me skeptical, but before scanning a random QR code to prove my own humanity to a machine, I want to first learn what the hell this thing is.

I follow what’s going on in tech, so I was already aware that Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) had a crypto startup years ago. But I had assumed it fizzled out. Turns out it’s not only still around, it’s expanding. And now it’s right here in our neighborhood next to the totes.

I was curious about why a business would decide to put such a creepy device inside, especially a neighborhood coffee shop on SF’s west side. So I did some digging around to see what I could find out about the company and its plans.

The device is called an Orb, and it is about the size of a bowling ball. It is a biometric device made by World, the digital identity startup co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and run by CEO Alex Blania. I also found out that Altman and Blania co-founded Merge Labs, a company working to non-invasively connect human brains to computers. In early 2026, Merge Labs raised $250 million dollars. OpenAI wrote the largest single check.

If you look into an Orb, it takes photos of your iris to generate a “World ID”. This is a credential you can use to prove to websites and apps that you’re a real human being and not a bot. The device runs neural networks on an NVIDIA chip to confirm it's looking at a live human eye. It then converts the iris pattern into an encrypted code, checks that code against the network to make sure your eyes haven't enrolled before, and (the company says) deletes the images.

I know I am a real human being already, so what’s in it for me? While some people do it out of curiosity, the more obvious answer is: for the money. According to this article from the Gazetteer about an Orb located in the Gap, you’ll get $50 in WLD, World’s cryptocurrency, if you sell them an eyeball scan. And according to this reddit thread, a redditor overheard that a homeless person sold their scan for as much as $70.

While I personally would hold out for more than $70 for my biometric data, you may wonder if it’s the next hot crypto coin that will moon and make you rich? Well, not so far. I checked out Worldcoin’s price on CoinMarketCap, and it’s down 67% over the last year, and down 97% from its peak. So if you sold your eyeball scan for $50 in WLD back then and held, it turns out you might have sold out for $17. But hey, if you HODL long enough, maybe you’ll get back to even.

So what does a shop get for hosting an orb in their business? It’s hard to find exact details on how a business is compensated for having an orb in their shop. It is known that the company grew through a network of paid “Orb operators.” So it probably works like some type of affiliate program, where the shops are paid for the signups they generate. I'm not going to speculate about Little Sweet's arrangement specifically, but I assume they aren’t just doing it for the ambiance.

I personally decided to pass, but what you do with your biometric data is up to you. Next time you want to grab a matcha and think about buying a tote, just know that Sam Altman will happily buy your drink. You just have to give him your eyeballs first.