Zoom to Implement Iris Verification to Confirm Attendee Authenticity
Video conferencing software Zoom recently announced a partnership with World (formerly Worldcoin), led by Sam Altman, to add a real-person verification feature to video meetings. Verified real humans will be marked so other attendees can see confirmation of their authenticity.
The World project requires individuals to verify their identity by scanning their irises with a dedicated device, after which they will receive a wallet address on the blockchain. Each person can only obtain a unique wallet address, and theoretically, this authentication technology cannot be faked.
In practice, Zoom will cross-reference the image signed during the user's initial Orb (the device used to scan the iris) registration, real-time facial scans performed by the device, and other video frames visible to participants. A verified human badge will only be displayed if all of these samples match.
Meeting organizers can even force all meeting participants to undergo deep facial recognition, completely preventing unverified participants from joining the meeting. Instant verification can also be performed mid-meeting to ensure participants are real humans.
This feature has been met with some ridicule online, with people joking about now needing to prove they are human. However, it could effectively combat fraud based on deepfake technology. Requiring deep facial recognition for all attendees should identify non-human participants.
In early 2024, engineering firm Ayna lost $2.5 million due to a deep video fake. A Hong Kong employee authorized a wire transfer during a video call. Subsequent investigation revealed that all participants in the video call except the Hong Kong employee were deepfakes. The fraud group used publicly available photos of the company's leadership and deepfake technology to create the video, convincing the Hong Kong employee that the transfer request came from company leadership.
A similar deepfake scam occurred at a multinational company in Singapore in 2025. Therefore, the addition of real human verification to video calls may become increasingly common, and it may become mainstream in the future, regardless of user acceptance.