How Bots, Deepfakes and AI Agents Are Forcing a New Internet Identity Layer

The internet already has a bot problem — and it's just getting worse. a16z's Ben Horowitz and Erik Torenberg speak with Alex Blania of Tools for Humanity. World is building the largest real human network, a proof-of-human layer for the AI era. They cover the technical challenge of proving human uniqueness at scale using iris biometrics, the privacy architecture behind World ID, and why platforms from social networks to dating apps to video conferencing will soon require proof of human verification. Timestamps:  0:00—Introduction  4:07—Three Big Ideas People Were Interested In  9:05—The Orb Verification Piece  15:20—Social Media Bots: PSYOPs and Propaganda  29:18—We Had Proof of Personhood for the Longest Time  36:44—Next Year Go-to-Market Is Focused on the US  40:09—Different Levels of Verification Resources:  Follow Alex Blania on X: / alexblania  Follow Ben Horowitz on X: / bhorowitz  Follow Erik Torenberg on X: / eriktorenber Follow a16z crypto for more...  X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto  Substack: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/   As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.