Jared Leto and Sam Altman Say They Can Thwart Ticket Scalper Bots by Scanning Your Eyeballs

Jared Leto's band Thirty Seconds to Mars will set aside "human-only" tickets for select European tour dates using World's iris-scanning verification system, the company announced. World, co-founded by OpenAI's Sam Altman, claims its Concert Kit technology blocked over 100,000 bot requests during a recent test event, allowing nearly 1,000 verified humans to secure free tickets. The partnership marks the first major tour to adopt the biometric verification system, which requires fans to submit retinal scans to prove they are human and access ticket sales.

If you subscribe to Dead Internet Theory https://gizmodo.com/dead-internet-theory-is-17-of-the-way-to-becoming-reality-study-finds-2000751718 —which claims the web is now predominantly a sea of AI, bots, and algorithmic automation, drowning whatever human input still remains—you might be initially intrigued by the prospect of a company pitching reclamation of the digital world via human verification. World, the company that’s taken up that mantle, proposes a Faustian bargain tailor-made for our present dystopia in order to provide this rejuvenated online experience: retinal scans. Despite a rocky first quarter that saw its parent company hemorrhaging talent https://www.businessinsider.com/high-level-departures-tools-for-humanity-sam-altman-alex-blania-2026-2 , World’s new scalper-thwarting effort, unveiled last month as Concert Kit, https://music.world.org/ appears to be the most plausibly helpful use case for the company’s notorious eye ID yet. According to World, to combat the scourge of AI reseller bots squatting on a show’s entire ticket stock, musicians with Concert Kit profiles can set aside a specific amount to be redeemed by bona fide human fans. In fact, World says that Concert Kit can even be incorporated into existing ticket sale platforms. As reported by SF Standard https://sfstandard.com/2026/05/21/jared-leto-sam-altman-eye-scanner-concert-tour/ , World claims its humanity-authentication protocols swatted away over 100,000 bot requests aiming to snag free tickets for its “ Humans Only Concert https://music.world.org/events/liftoff? gl=1 1qocrdi gcl au MzU3NDIwMTk1LjE3NzkzMDYwMjQ. ,” which allowed nearly 1,000 verified humans to secure them instead and enjoy the musical stylings of St. Vincent and Anderson .Paak’s alter egos St. Vicious and DJ Pee .Wee, respectively . While a corporate activation might work as a trial balloon, its success is far from proof of concept. Fortunately for World, it’s convinced a popular band fronted by a movie star can give Concert Kit its first proper test run. For their forthcoming European tour https://world.org/ko-kr/thirtysecondstomars , Thirty Seconds to Mars—featuring Mobius himself, Jared Leto—has agreed to set aside human-only tickets for select cities. Specifically, the band’s fans in London, Manchester, Munich, Berlin, and Hanover who dare to stare into the orb abyss can take advantage of the two-for-one ticket special. Take that, clankers For those still wondering how this all works or makes the company money, some background might help. World was initially conceived as a global ID/cryptocurrency project by the private company Tools For Humanity https://www.toolsforhumanity.com/ , which was co-founded by Open AI’s Sam Altman while purporting to be “building for humans in the age of AI.” After some initial investment from Andreessen Horowitz and some time in beta, World finally officially launched in 2023, promising a future where humans can once again enjoy spaces like Tinder, Zoom, and Docusign without being bothered by pesky bots. The catch: all new users must stare directly into the lens of an orb that’s a dead ringer for Wheatley from Portal 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatley Portal and submit to an iris scan. And for those still a bit pensive about trading their biometric data for benefits like gaming on a certified bot-free Razer server https://world.org/blog/announcements/new-world-razer-partnership-prioritizes-human-gamers-age-of-ai , World sweetens the deal by offering welcome gifts and monthly drops of their proprietary cryptocurrency, Worldcoin WLD , to all users. Like many a token, Worldcoin has endured its fair share of controversies—chief among them, allegations of insider token dumping https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/paradigm-zachxbt-alleges-sam-altman-063514858.html . On top of the fraud allegations, World’s practice of mining impoverished countries in the global south https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/06/1048981/worldcoin-cryptocurrency-biometrics-web3/ for new users https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66383325 , the emergence of a black market for user data https://gizmodo.com/worldcoin-black-market-iris-data-identity-orb-1850454037 , and a hack of orb operator passwords https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/12/hackers-stole-passwords-of-worldcoin-orb-operators/ have raised red flags for regulators around the globe. And it’s not as if the tech industry writ large has a sterling reputation when it comes to handling customer data https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65669839 . Accordingly, Worldcoin has already been banned https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/ro/article/spain-bans-worldcoin-operations-over-data-privacy-concerns in a number https://www.bitrue.com/blog/can-wld-survive-its-correction of countries https://en.tempo.co/read/2004653/global-backlash-nations-halting-worldcoin-over-privacy-concerns and is facing increased government scrutiny https://idtechwire.com/german-regulator-orders-worldcoin-to-delete-biometric-data-over-gdpr-violations/ and ongoing investigations https://finance.yahoo.com/news/world-still-not-off-hook-175427094.html in others. As Concert Kit and the Thirty Seconds partnership suggests, World’s not down for the count just yet. Sam Altman and co. are still forging ahead with human-authentication applications to put those eyeball scans to good use—getting flesh-and-blood butts in seats for Leto, the guy accused of sexual impropriety https://airmail.news/issues/2025-6-7/the-cult-of-leto by nine women less than a year ago.