Recently, I revisited Sam Altman's story and found his life trajectory quite interesting. Back in January 2024, he held an extremely private wedding in Hawaii, marrying Australian software engineer Oliver Mulherin. The Sam Altman marriage was attended by no more than 15 people, including his brother Jack Altman (founder of Lattice). Both wore simple white shirts and beige pants, creating a warm yet restrained atmosphere.

Honestly, to be worthy of someone like Sam Altman, Oliver's background is indeed impressive. This guy was born in Melbourne, studied computer science at the University of Melbourne, and later worked as a software engineer at Meta AI, IOTA Foundation, and other places. His passion for AI is just like Altman's, and they started dating back in 2019. Last June, they even attended a dinner at the White House hosted for Indian Prime Minister Modi, sitting alongside CEOs of Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

After the wedding, they shared photos on Instagram. Oliver wrote, "Married my best friend and the love of my life," and the entire tech community was congratulating them. From Jeff Bezos's fiancée to various tech entrepreneurs, everyone sent their blessings. This also reflects the tech industry's understanding of diversity and inclusion—just like Apple CEO Tim Cook, people are increasingly accepting different lifestyles.

But I think what’s more worth noting is that the Sam Altman marriage is just a fragment of his life. His professional achievements are equally remarkable. Returning to OpenAI, he continues to push the boundaries of AI exploration. At the same time, he is leading the Worldcoin project, which is truly fascinating.

Recently, Worldcoin made a breakthrough in Argentina—nearly 16k Orb verifications in a single day, with over 500k total World ID verifications. This means more than 1% of Argentina’s population has verified their World ID, a ratio similar to Chile, Spain, and Portugal. Globally, nearly 3 million people have verified their identity through Orb.

The launch of World ID 2.0 is even more critical. This version integrates mainstream apps like Reddit, Telegram, Shopify, and Mercado Libre. Its core advantage is effectively distinguishing humans from bots. After launch, a large amount of WLD tokens were withdrawn from exchanges, indicating strong market confidence in this new direction. The token price rose from $2.3 to $4.69. Worldcoin CEO Alex Blania compared this update to "Apple releasing a new iOS," and it really has that vibe.

The logic behind Worldcoin is quite clear: AI will create wealth but also eliminate many jobs. So, two things are needed—one is a reliable identity verification system (via iris scans), and the other is universal basic income to cope with economic changes. World ID 2.0 introduces three verification levels, allowing users to manage their identity on their phones, including recovery, updates, or cancellations.

Currently, Worldcoin is also building a developer platform, allocating $5 million in community funds to encourage developers. Reddit moderators can use World ID to manage permissions and reduce spam; Minecraft can use it to combat bots; Shopify merchants can ensure each user claims only one discount.

Looking at Sam Altman’s trajectory over these years, he has integrated his personal life and professional pursuits very well. Even after the wedding, he remains fully committed to OpenAI and Worldcoin, continuing to drive innovation in AI and digital identity. In this state, what he can bring to the AI + Web3 industry is definitely worth looking forward to.