Tools for Humanity, the iris-scanning startup co-founded by Sam Altman, is reportedly laying off workers, according to an internal email sent to staff on Monday.
The company is the lead developer of World, the digital identity network formerly known as Worldcoin. It said the reductions reflect its next phase of strategy, with details to be announced at a town hall meeting on Tuesday.
Altman’s Tools for Humanity Said to Cut Staff
Tools for Humanity, co-founded by Altman and Alex Blania, is valued at $2.5 billion. Backers include Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital, and Khosla Ventures, which have committed hundreds of millions of dollars.
The internal email framed the move as a strategic reset.
“As we enter the next step of our company strategy and operating priorities, we have made the hard decision to make changes to some roles and teams across the company,” the email viewed by Business Insider read.
The startup employs more than 500 people. The number of affected roles remains unclear ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
World detailed the strategy behind the cuts in a blog post titled “The Simple Plan.” The company said it is entering Phase 3 of the plan.
World plans to concentrate “on a core set of countries where proof of human products and services already show strong early adoption.” It named a few cities, including San Francisco, New York, the UK, Germany, Japan, and South Korea.
It also said it will reduce its physical operations footprint outside these focus countries, a move that affects its global operational workforce.
“These changes will affect members of the global operational workforce, along with teams that support those operations. Their work helped build the World network from its earliest stages and enabled proof of human to reach tens of millions of people around the world. We are deeply grateful for their contributions,” the blog read.
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Business Insider noted that the firm has yet to show how the Orb generates steady revenue. The volleyball-sized sphere scans a person’s irises to create a digital ID, rewarding participants with Worldcoin (WLD) tokens.
Meanwhile, regulators continue to pressure the firm. South Korea fined it 1.1 billion won ($830,000). The penalty covered alleged violations in how the project collected and transferred personal data.
The Brazilian National Data Protection Authority (‘ANPD’) ordered the firm to stop paying residents for iris scans. Tuesday’s town hall should clarify how deep the cuts run and where the company places its remaining resources.
The cuts arrive as Altman’s main venture moves in the opposite direction. OpenAI confidentially filed for a public offering on Monday. The firm joins Anthropic and SpaceX in one of the most dramatic tech IPO waves ever.
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