Sam Altman just pulled off the most awkward PR juggling act of the decade. On June 8, 2026, OpenAI confidentially filed for an IPO—a massive step toward becoming a public company. Meanwhile, reports emerged that Tools for Humanity, the startup behind Worldcoin's iris-scanning Orbs, is conducting layoffs.
Let that sink in. One of Altman's babies is preparing to go public. The other is bleeding jobs. And both companies are run by the same guy.
Tools for Humanity, valued at $2.5B by Andreessen Horowitz, has never really cracked the revenue code. The company's World project uses biometric verification via eye scans—a concept that Gizmodo called 'creepy.' And regulators in Kenya and Korea have already slapped fines on it. Now, with a workforce reduction, the 'Orb' is looking less like a utopian ID gadget and more like a very expensive paperweight.
Meanwhile, OpenAI's IPO filing is a victory lap—but not without its own baggage. A Guardian report from just days earlier noted that Altman walked back predictions about superintelligence after OpenAI failed to make money from ads and erotic chatbots. So even the AI darling isn't printing cash as effortlessly as hype suggests.
The contrast is brutal. At OpenAI, investors are lining up. At Tools for Humanity, employees are lining up at the exit. And Altman? He's the CEO of both. That duality raises real questions about focus, resources, and whether the Worldcoin vision can survive while its parent sheds staff.
For the average reader, this isn't just tech drama—it's a warning. When a founder's 'side project' starts laying off people while his main company goes public, you have to wonder: Is Worldcoin a genuine vision or a distraction? Trends suggest the privacy backlash and revenue struggles might force Tools for Humanity to pivot hard—or shut down entirely. Altman might want to ensure his IPO narrative doesn't get overshadowed by his own side project's implosion.