Altman-backed startup rolls out eyeball-scanning tech across US
(Bloomberg) — Tools for Humanity, a startup co-founded by OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman, plans to roll out thousands of eyeball-scanning Orb devices across the US, marking a major expansion for the company and its novel identification services.
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Starting this week, people in six US cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Atlanta, will be able to scan their eyes using a spherical orb device at select locations operated by Tools for Humanity's World project as well as certain partners, the company said at an event late Wednesday. Previously, the technology was only available in the US in a limited testing capacity.
The company, led by co-founder and CEO Alex Blania, has billed the Orb as a powerful tool to verify people's identities and prove someone is really human at a time when artificial intelligence deepfakes are becoming more convincing. Those who agree to the scan can also receive a cryptocurrency token called Worldcoin through the company.
To date, more than 12 million people have used the tool to verify their identities in countries including the Philippines, Portugal and Thailand, according to the company. World's Orb and the cryptocurrency have also previously faced regulatory scrutiny in Hong Kong and countries such as Kenya and South Korea.
Adrian Ludwig, chief architect of Tools for Humanity, said the company met with regulators in the US — without naming which ones — ahead of its planned expansion. Tools for Humanity also said the information it collects is encrypted and that it doesn't store personal data.
In addition to the US expansion, Tools for Humanity announced it's partnering with dating app company Match Group Inc. (MTCH) to pilot age verification, starting with Tinder users in Japan.
Match and rival Bumble Inc. (BMBL) have prioritized removing bad actors from their platforms to combat fake profiles supercharged by the rise of generative AI. Both have rolled out ID verification in the past year and Tinder has signed on a new background check vendor to give daters additional piece of mind.
Ludwig said it will be up to Match to integrate what he calls the 'proof-of-humanity' credential across more of its dating brands like Hinge or Match.com. He also envisions a future where a person's background check results can be linked to their Orb-verified identity, but that would require deeper partnerships with various identity services.
'For consumers, they don't want to think about this technology,' Ludwig said. 'What they want to think about is: 'I want to be dating real people.''
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Trump tariffs live updates: US-China trade talks to continue on Tuesday after signs of progress
The US and China will continue trade talks on Tuesday after six hours of discussions between top officials kicked off in London on Monday. Tuesday's talks are expected to continue to focus on easing tensions over rare earths and tech. After day one, US officials were upbeat but vague on progress. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it was a "good meeting" while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the negotiations "fruitful." President Trump said on Monday he received "good reports" but added that "China's not easy." Vice Premier He Lifeng, who led China's delegation, did not comment on the meeting. The negotiations follow Trump's call with Xi last week, which both leaders framed as positive. US-China tensions have risen in the aftermath of the countries' trade truce reached in mid-May in Geneva, with both countries accusing the other of breaching that truce while ratcheting up pressure on other issues. The US and China are also now using their control over certain key materials to gain control in the trade war. Bloomberg reported on Friday that the US dominates in ethane, a gas used to make plastics, and China buys nearly all of it. Washington is now tightening control by requiring export licenses. China's curbs on exports of rare earth minerals, crucial for autos and more, have drawn Washington's ire. Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet The US-China talks come as Trump pushes countries to speed up negotiations. The US sent a letter to partners as a "friendly reminder" that Trump's self-imposed 90-day pause on sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs is set to expire in early July. White House advisers have for weeks promised trade deals in the "not-too-distant future," with the only announced agreement so far coming with the United Kingdom. US and Indian officials held trade talks this week and agreed to extend those discussions on Monday and Tuesday ahead of the July 9 deadline. New tariffs are coming into play: Effective Wednesday, June 4, Trump doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25% to 50%. Meanwhile, Trump's most sweeping tariffs face legal uncertainty after a federal appeals court allowed the tariffs to temporarily stay in effect, a day after the US Court of International Trade blocked their implementation, deeming the method used to enact them "unlawful." Here are the latest updates as the policy reverberates around the world. The number of ocean containers from China bound for the US fell precipitously in May when President Trump's 145% tariffs on Chinese goods were in effect. Supply chain technology company Descartes said Monday that seaborne imports from China to the US dropped 28.5% year over year, the sharpest decline since the pandemic, per Reuters. Overall, US seaborne imports fell 7.2% annually in May to 2.18 million 20-foot equivalent units. The decline snaps a streak of increases fueled by companies frontloading goods to avoid higher duties, which has kept US seaports, such as the Port of Long Beach, busy. "The effects of U.S. policy shifts with China are now clearly visible in monthly trade flows," Descartes said in a statement. Read more here. In today's Chart of the Day, Yahoo Finance's Josh Schafer writes that tariff headlines have been rattling markets to a lesser degree than they did in April, despite an escalation of trade tensions recently: Sign up for the Morning Brief newsletter to get the Chart of the Day in your inbox. US import costs of steel and aluminum are expected to rise by more than $100 billion after President Trump doubled tariffs on the metals to 50% this week. That is expected to impact automakers such as Ford (F), as well as importers for a variety of goods, from baseball bats to aircraft parts. The Financial Times reports: Read more here. Tariffs have brought challenges for many, but Century Aluminum (CENX) and top recycler Matalco stand to benefit from President Trump's metal import duties as domestic prices rise. Reuters reports: Read more here. The US is keen to strike a firm deal with China on rare earths exports as both sides resume talks in London today. Reuters reports: Read more here. Global auto companies are hoping that trade talks between the US and China on Monday could help fast track rare earth exports from China, which are desperately needed. Reuters reports: Read more here. Outbound shipments of rare earths in May from China rose 23% on the month to their highest in a year, despite Beijing's export curbs on some of the critical minerals prevented some overseas sales, with shortages impacting global manufacturing. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Chinese exports rose less than expected last month, held back by the biggest drop in shipments to the US in over five years, despite strong demand from other markets. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. The US and China will restart trade talks in London on Monday after President Trump and Xi spoke last week. The two sides have accused each other of breaking a May deal in Geneva to pause tariff hikes above 100%. Trump, after agreeing with Xi to resume critical mineral flows, said he expects the talks to go "very well." 'We want the rare earths, the magnets that are crucial for cell phones and everything else to flow just as they did before the beginning of April, and we don't want any technical details slowing that down,' Kevin Hassett, head of the National Economic Council at the White House, said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation. 'And that's clear to them.' US-China tensions rose this year after Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods, triggering retaliation from Beijing. The Geneva deal was meant to ease tariff tensions, but talks stalled as both sides blamed each other. The US criticized a drop in Chinese exports of rare earth magnets and China pushed back on US curbs targeting AI chips and student visas. In London, US officials, which include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will meet with Vice Premier He Lifeng. According to a report in Bloomberg on Monday, Lutnick's presence suggests the US may review some tech restrictions. The recent Trump-Xi call brought hope if lower tariffs, but investor confidence remains cautious. As of today, the US has only secured one new trade deal — with the UK. A startup that assembles one of its smartphones entirely in the US says it's possible for a company like Apple to do the same and not incur prohibitive costs, but it's not easy and would take several years of focused effort, Fortune reports: At least one expert in the UK believes Prime Minister Keir Starmer may have unrealistic expectations about a trade deal with President Donald Trump and the US, Bloomberg reports: Read more here President Donald Trump has come up short on striking trade deals with most nations with just one month left before his self-imposed tariff deadline, even as he took his first steps in weeks toward engaging with China. Trump secured a much-desired call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, paving the way for a new round of talks on Monday in London — yet the diplomacy was overshadowed by a blowout public fight between Trump and his billionaire onetime ally, Elon Musk. Trump's aides insisted Friday that the president was moving on and focused on his economic agenda. Still, question marks remain over the US's most consequential trade relationships, with few tangible signs of progress toward interim agreements. Read more here Bloomberg reports: Read more here. President Trump said a new round of trade talks between the US and China would start Monday, a day after he spoke with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trump said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would lead talks for the US. "The meeting should go very well," Trump predicted. Bessent led the last round of talks in Geneva, which led to a tariff truce that sent markets soaring. That truce has come under strain in recent weeks over various trade and other thorny issues, including China's curbs on rare earth mineral exports and US chip curbs. Bet you were wondering how long we could go before mentioning Elon Musk's feud with President Trump in this blog (lots more on that here, here, and here). Yes, the remarkable back and forth included Trump threatening Musk's government contracts — and Musk seeming to agree with a call to impeach Trump, while also throwing in an "Epstein files" mention. But as Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul details, Musk is now going to war with many of the biggest pillars of Trump's agenda. There was a tariff mention as part of that. Specifically, Musk not only criticized the tariffs — he's now on record saying he thinks they will cause a recession this year. As Ben writes: Read more here. Trade talks between the US and India were set to wrap up this Friday, but now they are being extended into next week as officials on both sides aim to work out an interim deal before a July 9 deadline. Indian government sources said the discussions, which have focused on tariff cuts in the farming and auto sectors, will continue next Monday and Tuesday. President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are looking to double trade by 2030 and cement a trade pact by fall 2025. Reuters reports: Read more here. US and Chinese officials exchanged jabs at an event held by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Shanghai on Friday, as the chamber appealed for more clarity for American businesses operating in China. Reuters reports: Read more here. India's Tata Steel has warned that it might be excluded from tariff-free access to the US under the UK's trade agreement with the Trump administration. This exclusion risks putting more than $180M worth of annual exports at risk. The FT reports: Read more here. Two of the largest economies in the euro zone saw industrial production decline in the first month of President Trump's sweeping tariffs, indicating a economic slowdown after a stronger-than-expected year, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. Wall Street Journal: Read more here. The EU said on Friday that it is open to reducing tariffs on US fertiliser imports as a trade bargaining tool in talks with the Trump administration. However, the EU said it would not weaken its food safety standards in pursuit of a deal. EU agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen told Reuters: "That is definitely an option," Hansen said, of reducing US fertiliser tariffs. Reuters reports: Read more here. The number of ocean containers from China bound for the US fell precipitously in May when President Trump's 145% tariffs on Chinese goods were in effect. Supply chain technology company Descartes said Monday that seaborne imports from China to the US dropped 28.5% year over year, the sharpest decline since the pandemic, per Reuters. Overall, US seaborne imports fell 7.2% annually in May to 2.18 million 20-foot equivalent units. The decline snaps a streak of increases fueled by companies frontloading goods to avoid higher duties, which has kept US seaports, such as the Port of Long Beach, busy. "The effects of U.S. policy shifts with China are now clearly visible in monthly trade flows," Descartes said in a statement. Read more here. In today's Chart of the Day, Yahoo Finance's Josh Schafer writes that tariff headlines have been rattling markets to a lesser degree than they did in April, despite an escalation of trade tensions recently: Sign up for the Morning Brief newsletter to get the Chart of the Day in your inbox. US import costs of steel and aluminum are expected to rise by more than $100 billion after President Trump doubled tariffs on the metals to 50% this week. That is expected to impact automakers such as Ford (F), as well as importers for a variety of goods, from baseball bats to aircraft parts. The Financial Times reports: Read more here. Tariffs have brought challenges for many, but Century Aluminum (CENX) and top recycler Matalco stand to benefit from President Trump's metal import duties as domestic prices rise. Reuters reports: Read more here. The US is keen to strike a firm deal with China on rare earths exports as both sides resume talks in London today. Reuters reports: Read more here. Global auto companies are hoping that trade talks between the US and China on Monday could help fast track rare earth exports from China, which are desperately needed. Reuters reports: Read more here. Outbound shipments of rare earths in May from China rose 23% on the month to their highest in a year, despite Beijing's export curbs on some of the critical minerals prevented some overseas sales, with shortages impacting global manufacturing. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Chinese exports rose less than expected last month, held back by the biggest drop in shipments to the US in over five years, despite strong demand from other markets. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. The US and China will restart trade talks in London on Monday after President Trump and Xi spoke last week. The two sides have accused each other of breaking a May deal in Geneva to pause tariff hikes above 100%. Trump, after agreeing with Xi to resume critical mineral flows, said he expects the talks to go "very well." 'We want the rare earths, the magnets that are crucial for cell phones and everything else to flow just as they did before the beginning of April, and we don't want any technical details slowing that down,' Kevin Hassett, head of the National Economic Council at the White House, said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation. 'And that's clear to them.' US-China tensions rose this year after Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods, triggering retaliation from Beijing. The Geneva deal was meant to ease tariff tensions, but talks stalled as both sides blamed each other. The US criticized a drop in Chinese exports of rare earth magnets and China pushed back on US curbs targeting AI chips and student visas. In London, US officials, which include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will meet with Vice Premier He Lifeng. According to a report in Bloomberg on Monday, Lutnick's presence suggests the US may review some tech restrictions. The recent Trump-Xi call brought hope if lower tariffs, but investor confidence remains cautious. As of today, the US has only secured one new trade deal — with the UK. A startup that assembles one of its smartphones entirely in the US says it's possible for a company like Apple to do the same and not incur prohibitive costs, but it's not easy and would take several years of focused effort, Fortune reports: At least one expert in the UK believes Prime Minister Keir Starmer may have unrealistic expectations about a trade deal with President Donald Trump and the US, Bloomberg reports: Read more here President Donald Trump has come up short on striking trade deals with most nations with just one month left before his self-imposed tariff deadline, even as he took his first steps in weeks toward engaging with China. Trump secured a much-desired call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, paving the way for a new round of talks on Monday in London — yet the diplomacy was overshadowed by a blowout public fight between Trump and his billionaire onetime ally, Elon Musk. Trump's aides insisted Friday that the president was moving on and focused on his economic agenda. Still, question marks remain over the US's most consequential trade relationships, with few tangible signs of progress toward interim agreements. Read more here Bloomberg reports: Read more here. President Trump said a new round of trade talks between the US and China would start Monday, a day after he spoke with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trump said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would lead talks for the US. "The meeting should go very well," Trump predicted. Bessent led the last round of talks in Geneva, which led to a tariff truce that sent markets soaring. That truce has come under strain in recent weeks over various trade and other thorny issues, including China's curbs on rare earth mineral exports and US chip curbs. Bet you were wondering how long we could go before mentioning Elon Musk's feud with President Trump in this blog (lots more on that here, here, and here). Yes, the remarkable back and forth included Trump threatening Musk's government contracts — and Musk seeming to agree with a call to impeach Trump, while also throwing in an "Epstein files" mention. But as Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul details, Musk is now going to war with many of the biggest pillars of Trump's agenda. There was a tariff mention as part of that. Specifically, Musk not only criticized the tariffs — he's now on record saying he thinks they will cause a recession this year. As Ben writes: Read more here. Trade talks between the US and India were set to wrap up this Friday, but now they are being extended into next week as officials on both sides aim to work out an interim deal before a July 9 deadline. Indian government sources said the discussions, which have focused on tariff cuts in the farming and auto sectors, will continue next Monday and Tuesday. President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are looking to double trade by 2030 and cement a trade pact by fall 2025. Reuters reports: Read more here. US and Chinese officials exchanged jabs at an event held by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Shanghai on Friday, as the chamber appealed for more clarity for American businesses operating in China. Reuters reports: Read more here. India's Tata Steel has warned that it might be excluded from tariff-free access to the US under the UK's trade agreement with the Trump administration. This exclusion risks putting more than $180M worth of annual exports at risk. The FT reports: Read more here. Two of the largest economies in the euro zone saw industrial production decline in the first month of President Trump's sweeping tariffs, indicating a economic slowdown after a stronger-than-expected year, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. Wall Street Journal: Read more here. The EU said on Friday that it is open to reducing tariffs on US fertiliser imports as a trade bargaining tool in talks with the Trump administration. However, the EU said it would not weaken its food safety standards in pursuit of a deal. EU agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen told Reuters: "That is definitely an option," Hansen said, of reducing US fertiliser tariffs. Reuters reports: Read more here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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Trump says China ‘not easy' as trade talks to continue Tuesday
(Bloomberg) — Supply Lines is a daily newsletter that tracks global trade. Sign up here. Trade talks between the US and China will continue into a second day, according to a US official, as the two sides look to ease tensions over shipments of technology and rare earth elements. Representatives for both nations ended their first day of negotiations in London after more than six hours at Lancaster House, a 19th century mansion near Buckingham Palace. The talks concluded around 8 p.m. London time. The advisers will meet again Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the British capital, the official said. 'We are doing well with China. China's not easy,' Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. 'I'm only getting good reports.' The US delegation was led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The presence of Lutnick, the former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO, underscored the importance that export controls are playing in these discussions. Bessent told reporters in London they had a 'good meeting' and Lutnick called the discussions 'fruitful.' The Chinese delegation was led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, who left without commenting to the media. The US signaled a willingness to remove restrictions on some tech exports in exchange for assurances that China is easing limits on rare earth shipments, which are critical to a wide array of energy, defense and technology products, including smartphones, fighter jets and nuclear reactor rods. China accounts for almost 70% of the world's production of rare earths. Specifically, the Trump administration is prepared to remove a recent spate of measures targeting chip design software, jet engine parts, chemicals and nuclear materials, people familiar with the matter said. Many of those actions were taken in the past few weeks as tensions flared between the US and China. Trump was noncommittal about lifting export curbs, telling reporters 'we'll see' when asked about the possibility of such a move. 'China has been ripping off the United States for many years,' the US president said, while adding that 'we want to open up China.' The Trump administration expects that 'after the handshake' in London, 'any export controls from the US will be eased and the rare earths will be released in volume' by China, Kevin Hassett, head of the White House's National Economic Council, told CNBC earlier in the day Monday. Hassett's comments from Washington were the clearest signal yet that the US is willing to offer such a concession, though he added that the US would stop short of including the most sophisticated chips made by Nvidia Corp. used to power artificial intelligence. 'The very, very high-end Nvidia stuff is not what I'm talking about,' Hassett said, adding that restrictions would not be lifted on the Nvidia H2O chips that are used to train AI services. 'I'm talking about possible export controls on other semiconductors which are also very important to them.' Chinese shares trading in Hong Kong entered a bull market, as some investors expressed hope the talks signaled a cooling of trade tensions. In the US, traders drove stocks higher, with the S&P 500 within 2% of its February peak. The first round of negotiations since delegations from the countries met a month ago is aimed at restoring confidence that both sides are living up to commitments made in Geneva. During those discussions, Washington and Beijing agreed to lower crippling tariffs for 90 days to allow time to address a trade imbalance that the Trump administration blames on an unfair playing field. A phone call last week between President Donald Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping appeared to give fresh momentum to reaching a deal. US-China trade tensions escalated this year as Trump hiked duties on Chinese goods, prompting retaliation from Beijing. That's led to pain in both economies, including uncertainties for businesses trying to navigate sudden changes in trade policy. —With assistance from Meghashyam Mali, Mackenzie Hawkins and Jennifer A. Dlouhy. (Adds comments from Trump, Bessent, Lutnick starting in third paragraph) ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
