OpenAI is getting into the concert ticketing business. What could possibly go wrong?

Sam Altman, one of the tech bros who thinks that AI is going to usher in a golden age for humanity, wants his OpenAI to get into the concert ticketing business. He wants to adapt a project called World to the space.

Last week, we learned about Concert Kit, which carries the slogan “Concerts are for real fans, not bots.” Concert Kit talks grandly about “exclusive pre-sales and ticket allocations for verified humans.”

There’s more: “Until now, there has been no reliable and privacy preserving way to confirm that a ticket buyer is actually a real human.”

Ah. “Verified humans.” “Real humans.” Yes, this looks like a way to keep tickets away from bots, but to participate, we humans will have to participate by offering up data. A LOT of data. Maybe even a selfie for the purposes of facial recognition.

Gee, I don’t see any issues for privacy or surveillance. Do you? And c’mon, who doesn’t trust a tech bro and his AI ambitions? What could possibly go wrong?

Meanwhile, Thirty to Seconds to Mars is on board. So is Anderson .Paak.