The broader moment: AI as a tool needing human grounding

Ever wonder if you’re talking to a real person online or just another bot? As bots increasingly outnumber humans online, leading to an explosion of deepfakes and AI-driven fraud, one company has a solution straight out of sci-fi: scanning your iris to verify your identity. 

Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan spoke with Adrian Ludwig, Chief Security Officer and Chief Architect at Tools for Humanity, the company behind World’s eye-scanning Orbs appearing around the globe. Bellan and Ludwig discuss building privacy-first identity verification, the open-source approach to biometric tech, and why proving humanity matters now more than ever. 

Listen to the full episode to hear: 

• How zero-knowledge proofs verify that you're over 18 (or human) without revealing your location, browsing history, or other identifying information. 

• Why Tools for Humanity open-sourced the entire Orb — from hardware to firmware and software. 

• How Match Group, Event Pop, and other major platforms are partnering up to combat bot abuse. 

Subscribe to Equity on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. 

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