X is testing a new ad format that inserts a recommendation directly underneath a post that references the company or its products. The initial test, spotted by an X user in Europe, displayed a suggestion to “Get Starlink” beneath a post from a user that said Starlink’s satellite service works great in Portugal. The link, when clicked, directed users to Starlink’s website.
X head of product Nikita Bier confirmed the test, responding, “Trying to make an ad product that isn’t an ad.”
The Starlink ad is not visible to all users at this time, but the placeholder where the ad sits is.
If you visit X user @levelsio’s post from March 6 (screenshotted below in case of deletion), you’ll see an outlined box beneath the text of his post. This box currently showcases a random X post, unless you’re in the market where the ad test is live.
In places where the ad displays, several commenters noticed the new addition, with one asking, “lmao, did you add this Starlink button?”
In the thread, Bier also responded to a suggestion that X should allow affiliate links in this ad slot by saying, “No, then people will lie. I want to trust recommendations on here.”
Image Credits:Screenshot from X
X could not be immediately reached for comment. TechCrunch will update the article if the company responds.
The test follows news earlier this week that the company is rolling out “Paid Partnership” labels for creators. The labels can be applied to posts to comply with regulations around social media advertising, instead of requiring creators to use a hashtag like “ad” or “paid partnership.”
If creators’ sponsored posts were to be combined with an embedded link to an advertiser like the one being tested, X could potentially attract more marketers to the platform. That could boost creators’ use of the app, allowing it to better compete against larger social networks favored by creators, like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
X has been chasing creator content for some time — even before it was called “X” and before it was owned by Elon Musk. Yet the app has never quite found its footing in this space. So far, the company has rolled out a number of creator products, including payouts for viral content, ad-revenue sharing, creator subscriptions, and more.
The company this week also revamped its Creator Subscriptions offering with a number of new features, including the ability to monetize individual threads.
In addition, X announced Friday that the integrated chatbot Grok is now capable of reading X’s long-form content, known as Articles. This feature, too, is underutilized, as creators who publish lengthy written text tend to prefer doing so through their own websites or newsletters.
Source link
#testing #format #connects #posts #products #TechCrunch
#OpenAIs #Sora #boss #leavingAI,News,OpenAI">OpenAI’s former Sora boss is leaving
I am immensely grateful to Sam, Mark, Aditya and Jakub for fostering a research environment that allowed us to pursue ideas off-the-beaten path from the company’s mainline roadmap. It’s tempting in life to mode collapse to the most important thing, but cultivating entropy is the only way for a research lab to thrive long-term, and Sam deeply understands this. Sora was a project that could not have happened anywhere but OpenAI, and I will always deeply love this place for that.
Tools for Humanity (TFH), the company behind the World project, announced Friday plans to integrate its verification tech into dating apps, event and concert ticketing systems, business organizations, email, and other arenas of public life.
“The world is getting close to very powerful AI, and this is doing a lot of wonderful things,” said Altman, speaking before a packed crowd at The Midway. “We are also heading to a world now where there’s going to be more stuff generated by AI than by humans,” he added. “I’m sure many of you [have had moments] where you’re like, ‘Am I interacting with an AI or a person, or how much of each, and how do I know?”
World (formerly Worldcoin) distinguishes itself from many of its ID verification peers by offering the ability to verify that a real, living human is using a digital service while still protecting that person’s anonymity. There is some complex cryptographic alchemy behind this (something called “zero-knowledge proof-based authentication”). The upshot: The company is creating what it calls “proof of human” tools, which are mechanisms that can verify human activity in a world rife with AI agents and bots.
Its chief tool for verification is a spherical digital reader called the Orb that scans a user’s eyes, converting their iris into a unique and anonymous cryptographic identifier (known as a verified World ID). This can then be used to access World’s services, although users can also access World’s app without one.
Altman kept his remarks brief on Friday (TFH’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Blania, was absent due to a last-minute hand surgery, Altman said). He then turned much of the presentation over to World’s chief product officer, Tiago Sada, and his team.
Sada explained that World was launching the newest version of its app (the last version was launched at an event in December), along with a plethora of new integrations for its technology.
World has been preparing, for some time, to deploy a verification service for dating apps — most notably, Tinder. Last year, Tinder launched a World ID pilot program in Japan. That pilot was apparently a success because World announced that Tinder would be launching its verification integration in global markets —including the U.S. The program integrates a World ID emblem into the profiles of users who have gone through its verification processes, thus authenticating them as a real person.
Image Credits:World
World is also courting the entertainment industry by launching a new feature called Concert Kit, where musical artists can reserve a certain number of concert tickets for World ID-verified humans. This is designed to ensure that fans are safe from scalpers who often use automated ticket-buying bots to scarf up seats. Concert Kit is compatible with major ticketing systems, including Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, and the company is promoting it via partnerships with 30 Seconds to Mars and Bruno Mars — both of whom plan to use it for their upcoming tours.
The event was full of many other announcements, including some aimed at businesses. A Zoom/World ID verification integration seeks to battle a supposed deepfake threat to business calls, and a Docusign partnership is designed to ensure signatures come from authentic users.
The company is also working on a number of features in anticipation of the Wild West of the agentic web, including one called “agent delegation,” in which a person can delegate their World ID to an agent to carry out online activities on their behalf. A partnership with authentication firm Okta has also created a system (currently in beta) that verifies that an agent is acting on behalf of a human. The system is set up so that a World ID can be tied to a specific agent and then, when the agent goes out into the web to operate on that person’s behalf, websites will know a verified person is behind the behavior, said Okta’s chief product officer, Gareth Davies, at the event.
So far, it’s been difficult for World to scale, due largely to the verification process itself. For much of the company’s history, to get its gold standard, you had to travel to one of its offices and have your eyeballs scanned by an Orb — a fairly inconvenient (not to mention weird) experience.
Image Credits:World
However, World has continually made moves to increase the ease and incentive structure for verification. In the past, it offered its crypto asset, Worldcoin, to some members who signed up and has distributed its Orbs into big retail chains so that users can verify themselves while they’re out shopping or getting a coffee. Now the company is announcing that it is significantly expanding its Orb saturation in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The company also promoted a service where interested users could have World bring an Orb to their location for remote verification.
In a conversation with TechCrunch, Sada also shared that World has attempted to solve the scaling problem by creating different tiers of verification. The highest tier is Orb verification, but below that, World has previously offered a mid-level tier, which uses an anonymized scan of an official government ID via the card’s NFC chip.
The company also introduced a low-level tier, or what Sada called “low friction”— meaning low effort, I guess, but also “low security” — which involves merely taking a selfie.
Selfie Check, which Sada’s team presented during the event, is designed to maintain user privacy.
“Selfie is private by design,” said Daniel Shorr, one of TFH’s executives, during the presentation. “That means that we maximize the local processing that’s happening on your device, on your phone, which means that your images are yours.”
Selfie verification obviously isn’t new, and fraudsters have long managed to spoof it. “Obviously, we do our best, and it’s like one of the best systems that you’ll see for this. But it has limits,” Sada told TechCrunch. Developers looking to integrate World’s services can choose from the three different verification tiers depending on the level of security that’s important to them, he noted.
Tools for Humanity (TFH), the company behind the World project, announced Friday plans to integrate its verification tech into dating apps, event and concert ticketing systems, business organizations, email, and other arenas of public life.
“The world is getting close to very powerful AI, and this is doing a lot of wonderful things,” said Altman, speaking before a packed crowd at The Midway. “We are also heading to a world now where there’s going to be more stuff generated by AI than by humans,” he added. “I’m sure many of you [have had moments] where you’re like, ‘Am I interacting with an AI or a person, or how much of each, and how do I know?”
World (formerly Worldcoin) distinguishes itself from many of its ID verification peers by offering the ability to verify that a real, living human is using a digital service while still protecting that person’s anonymity. There is some complex cryptographic alchemy behind this (something called “zero-knowledge proof-based authentication”). The upshot: The company is creating what it calls “proof of human” tools, which are mechanisms that can verify human activity in a world rife with AI agents and bots.
Its chief tool for verification is a spherical digital reader called the Orb that scans a user’s eyes, converting their iris into a unique and anonymous cryptographic identifier (known as a verified World ID). This can then be used to access World’s services, although users can also access World’s app without one.
Altman kept his remarks brief on Friday (TFH’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Blania, was absent due to a last-minute hand surgery, Altman said). He then turned much of the presentation over to World’s chief product officer, Tiago Sada, and his team.
Sada explained that World was launching the newest version of its app (the last version was launched at an event in December), along with a plethora of new integrations for its technology.
World has been preparing, for some time, to deploy a verification service for dating apps — most notably, Tinder. Last year, Tinder launched a World ID pilot program in Japan. That pilot was apparently a success because World announced that Tinder would be launching its verification integration in global markets —including the U.S. The program integrates a World ID emblem into the profiles of users who have gone through its verification processes, thus authenticating them as a real person.
Image Credits:World
World is also courting the entertainment industry by launching a new feature called Concert Kit, where musical artists can reserve a certain number of concert tickets for World ID-verified humans. This is designed to ensure that fans are safe from scalpers who often use automated ticket-buying bots to scarf up seats. Concert Kit is compatible with major ticketing systems, including Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, and the company is promoting it via partnerships with 30 Seconds to Mars and Bruno Mars — both of whom plan to use it for their upcoming tours.
The event was full of many other announcements, including some aimed at businesses. A Zoom/World ID verification integration seeks to battle a supposed deepfake threat to business calls, and a Docusign partnership is designed to ensure signatures come from authentic users.
The company is also working on a number of features in anticipation of the Wild West of the agentic web, including one called “agent delegation,” in which a person can delegate their World ID to an agent to carry out online activities on their behalf. A partnership with authentication firm Okta has also created a system (currently in beta) that verifies that an agent is acting on behalf of a human. The system is set up so that a World ID can be tied to a specific agent and then, when the agent goes out into the web to operate on that person’s behalf, websites will know a verified person is behind the behavior, said Okta’s chief product officer, Gareth Davies, at the event.
So far, it’s been difficult for World to scale, due largely to the verification process itself. For much of the company’s history, to get its gold standard, you had to travel to one of its offices and have your eyeballs scanned by an Orb — a fairly inconvenient (not to mention weird) experience.
Image Credits:World
However, World has continually made moves to increase the ease and incentive structure for verification. In the past, it offered its crypto asset, Worldcoin, to some members who signed up and has distributed its Orbs into big retail chains so that users can verify themselves while they’re out shopping or getting a coffee. Now the company is announcing that it is significantly expanding its Orb saturation in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The company also promoted a service where interested users could have World bring an Orb to their location for remote verification.
In a conversation with TechCrunch, Sada also shared that World has attempted to solve the scaling problem by creating different tiers of verification. The highest tier is Orb verification, but below that, World has previously offered a mid-level tier, which uses an anonymized scan of an official government ID via the card’s NFC chip.
The company also introduced a low-level tier, or what Sada called “low friction”— meaning low effort, I guess, but also “low security” — which involves merely taking a selfie.
Selfie Check, which Sada’s team presented during the event, is designed to maintain user privacy.
“Selfie is private by design,” said Daniel Shorr, one of TFH’s executives, during the presentation. “That means that we maximize the local processing that’s happening on your device, on your phone, which means that your images are yours.”
Selfie verification obviously isn’t new, and fraudsters have long managed to spoof it. “Obviously, we do our best, and it’s like one of the best systems that you’ll see for this. But it has limits,” Sada told TechCrunch. Developers looking to integrate World’s services can choose from the three different verification tiers depending on the level of security that’s important to them, he noted.
#Sam #Altmans #project #World #scale #human #verification #empire #stop #Tinder #TechCrunchDocuSign,sam altman,Tinder,World,Worldcoin,zoom">Sam Altman’s project World looks to scale its human verification empire. First stop: Tinder. | TechCrunch
At a trendy venue near the San Francisco pier, Sam Altman’s verification projectWorld celebrated its next evolution and rapid expansion of its ambitions. And it’s starting with Tinder.
Tools for Humanity (TFH), the company behind the World project, announced Friday plans to integrate its verification tech into dating apps, event and concert ticketing systems, business organizations, email, and other arenas of public life.
“The world is getting close to very powerful AI, and this is doing a lot of wonderful things,” said Altman, speaking before a packed crowd at The Midway. “We are also heading to a world now where there’s going to be more stuff generated by AI than by humans,” he added. “I’m sure many of you [have had moments] where you’re like, ‘Am I interacting with an AI or a person, or how much of each, and how do I know?”
World (formerly Worldcoin) distinguishes itself from many of its ID verification peers by offering the ability to verify that a real, living human is using a digital service while still protecting that person’s anonymity. There is some complex cryptographic alchemy behind this (something called “zero-knowledge proof-based authentication”). The upshot: The company is creating what it calls “proof of human” tools, which are mechanisms that can verify human activity in a world rife with AI agents and bots.
Its chief tool for verification is a spherical digital reader called the Orb that scans a user’s eyes, converting their iris into a unique and anonymous cryptographic identifier (known as a verified World ID). This can then be used to access World’s services, although users can also access World’s app without one.
Altman kept his remarks brief on Friday (TFH’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Blania, was absent due to a last-minute hand surgery, Altman said). He then turned much of the presentation over to World’s chief product officer, Tiago Sada, and his team.
Sada explained that World was launching the newest version of its app (the last version was launched at an event in December), along with a plethora of new integrations for its technology.
World has been preparing, for some time, to deploy a verification service for dating apps — most notably, Tinder. Last year, Tinder launched a World ID pilot program in Japan. That pilot was apparently a success because World announced that Tinder would be launching its verification integration in global markets —including the U.S. The program integrates a World ID emblem into the profiles of users who have gone through its verification processes, thus authenticating them as a real person.
Image Credits:World
World is also courting the entertainment industry by launching a new feature called Concert Kit, where musical artists can reserve a certain number of concert tickets for World ID-verified humans. This is designed to ensure that fans are safe from scalpers who often use automated ticket-buying bots to scarf up seats. Concert Kit is compatible with major ticketing systems, including Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, and the company is promoting it via partnerships with 30 Seconds to Mars and Bruno Mars — both of whom plan to use it for their upcoming tours.
The event was full of many other announcements, including some aimed at businesses. A Zoom/World ID verification integration seeks to battle a supposed deepfake threat to business calls, and a Docusign partnership is designed to ensure signatures come from authentic users.
The company is also working on a number of features in anticipation of the Wild West of the agentic web, including one called “agent delegation,” in which a person can delegate their World ID to an agent to carry out online activities on their behalf. A partnership with authentication firm Okta has also created a system (currently in beta) that verifies that an agent is acting on behalf of a human. The system is set up so that a World ID can be tied to a specific agent and then, when the agent goes out into the web to operate on that person’s behalf, websites will know a verified person is behind the behavior, said Okta’s chief product officer, Gareth Davies, at the event.
So far, it’s been difficult for World to scale, due largely to the verification process itself. For much of the company’s history, to get its gold standard, you had to travel to one of its offices and have your eyeballs scanned by an Orb — a fairly inconvenient (not to mention weird) experience.
Image Credits:World
However, World has continually made moves to increase the ease and incentive structure for verification. In the past, it offered its crypto asset, Worldcoin, to some members who signed up and has distributed its Orbs into big retail chains so that users can verify themselves while they’re out shopping or getting a coffee. Now the company is announcing that it is significantly expanding its Orb saturation in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The company also promoted a service where interested users could have World bring an Orb to their location for remote verification.
In a conversation with TechCrunch, Sada also shared that World has attempted to solve the scaling problem by creating different tiers of verification. The highest tier is Orb verification, but below that, World has previously offered a mid-level tier, which uses an anonymized scan of an official government ID via the card’s NFC chip.
The company also introduced a low-level tier, or what Sada called “low friction”— meaning low effort, I guess, but also “low security” — which involves merely taking a selfie.
Selfie Check, which Sada’s team presented during the event, is designed to maintain user privacy.
“Selfie is private by design,” said Daniel Shorr, one of TFH’s executives, during the presentation. “That means that we maximize the local processing that’s happening on your device, on your phone, which means that your images are yours.”
Selfie verification obviously isn’t new, and fraudsters have long managed to spoof it. “Obviously, we do our best, and it’s like one of the best systems that you’ll see for this. But it has limits,” Sada told TechCrunch. Developers looking to integrate World’s services can choose from the three different verification tiers depending on the level of security that’s important to them, he noted.
So, what’s the Pro X2 Superstrike about? It’s a mouse, of course, that takes the clicks of a conventional one and throws them away. Instead, the Superstrike takes a page from the MacBook playbook by borrowing its haptic motors for the clicking mechanism. It’s something that’s never been done before, yet still makes a ton of sense for serious gamers. But are these latency benefits even worth it? To answer this very question, I used the Pro X2 Superstrike for over two weeks. Spoiler alert: it might be the best gaming mouse I’ve used. Here’s why.
Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike Review
Hisan Kidwai
Summary
The Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike is something genuinely different. The haptic buttons are one-of-a-kind and work exceptionally well for both gaming and general productivity. In fast-paced games, the reduced actuation distance can actually make a noticeable difference to reaction times. The Logitech G Hub software is easy to use and offers plenty of customization, while the lightweight design makes it comfortable for long sessions.
Design & No Clicks???
Despite the all-new mechanism, which we’ll talk about soon, Logitech hasn’t changed much about the Superstrike’s design. Instead, it bears a striking resemblance to the SuperLight 2, and that’s not a bad thing. I’m a fan of this new Stormtrooper-inspired color with the white shell and black buttons. The shape is fairly standard without all the ergonomic trickery. The finish is smooth, doesn’t attract any fingerprints, and is super easy to clean, if you like eating Doritos like me when gaming. Weight is kept at 61g, for which the company pulled a lot of strings, like using titanium screws and drilling holes in the PCB. While comfort is subjective, my pain-prone wrists did like the Superstrike during long gaming sessions.
Let’s talk buttons and clicks. The two extra buttons on the left side are the standard kind, meaning they push down when you press them. The real magic happens on the left and right clicks. Logitech has developed a new system called HITS (Haptic Inductive Trigger System). It’s a bit of a mouthful for something that means the mouse combines tiny haptic motors with an electrical sensor to register a click. Remember the Hall Effect on the keyboard? It’s pretty much the same thing, except you can change when the click is registered.
The benefits of this system are pretty obvious. In most mice, the click is activated after 0.6mm of travel. It’s not a lot, but still more than an eSports player in the heat of a battle would like. With the Superstrike, you can set it to activate after just 0.1mm of travel. That’s incredibly sensitive and means your movements will be registered faster than anyone else’s when coming out of a corner in Valorant or CS2. Logitech claims up to a 30ms reduction in latency.
Speaking of those clicks, I do like them a lot. If you’ve used a MacBook trackpad, then these would be familiar. They are not quite as sharp but still really tactile. You can configure how hard the click should be. The feedback at the highest setting is simply lovely, and I’d actually much rather have these than buttons. What makes things even better is the consistency. Usually, when playing games that require rapid right-clicking, you need to press the button at the optimal area to minimize resistance. But with the Superstrike, you can tap anywhere, and both the feedback and actuation would remain the same.
Gaming on the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike
Let me get one thing straight: the Pro X2 Superstrike won’t make a bad gamer like me into an eSports player. It can, however, put a good player into eSports territory. I noticed that difference right away, when I first used the mouse, and thought, “Yup, this is it.” Logitech’s Hero sensors play beautifully with the HITS system. Sure, DPI can be set to an oblivion-like 44,000, but for the sake of my tiny 27-inch monitor, I kept it between 900 and 2,000. Tracking was more precise than any other mouse I’ve tested.
Let’s talk numbers. For testing, I picked up a generic ASUS mouse that used the same 2.5 GHz connection. The software of choice was AimLabs, a training ground for players to improve their reaction time by quickly hitting different objects on the screen. I first locked in with the regular mouse (three tries) and got an average reaction time of 243ms (not bad, right?). Then I switched to the Superstrike, with the clicks set to activate as soon as possible. In my best attempt, the reaction time was 218ms, which was noticeably better than my usual results.
But that’s not all the Superstrike has to offer. That’s because it introduces Rapid Triggers to a mouse for the very first time. For the uninitiated, Rapid Triggers are a keyboard technology that allows the keys to reset and re-actuate instantly after a slight lift of your finger.
I loved how it all comes together in games like CS2, where I went from averaging a few kills to at least landing some headshots. And that pretty much explains the Pro X2 Superstrike. It’s the best tool for gaming, and something you can rely on to help climb the eSports ladder.
For all my fellow Excel and Google Sheets users, while Superstrike isn’t really designed for productivity, I still used it as my daily driver for research. The results? I was doing spreadsheets a tad bit quicker thanks to the haptic clicks, which I configured to perfection. After a long day of work, I also noticed that my index finger didn’t hurt as much with a normal mouse.
Software & Customization
I talked about the customization part above, but to reiterate, the G Hub app handles it all. It’s available on both macOS and Windows and works pretty well. The app is neatly laid out with different sections. At the top is Sensitivity, which, as the name suggests, lets you adjust the DPI. If you’re new, Logitech has a bunch of presets baked in for different types of games. You can adjust the XY axis split, too. Beyond that, there are Assignments that let you assign different functions to the buttons and configure macros. The Scroll Wheel section has BHOP mode, designed to prevent activation from accidental bumps on the scroll wheel.
The real star is the HITS Configuration. Here, you adjust the Actuation point, or the point at which the haptic system registers a click. It can be set from a scale of 0-10, with zero requiring the least effort, and is better for gaming. Then there’s the Rapid Trigger adjustment, and lastly, Click Haptics. While a stronger haptic results in higher battery drain, I didn’t worry much as the Superstrike’s battery life is impressive. It lasted more than a week on a single charge, and I used it as my primary work mouse every day for 8 hours, too.
Verdict
At $189.99 or ₹23,995 on Amazon in India, I agree that the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike is a premium mouse. But unlike others, it’s something genuinely different. The haptic buttons are one-of-a-kind and work exceptionally well for both gaming and general productivity. In fast-paced games, the reduced actuation distance can actually make a noticeable difference to reaction times. The Logitech G Hub software is easy to use and offers plenty of customization, while the lightweight design makes it comfortable for long sessions. I’m sure we’ll see this tech being copied by others, but until then, if you’re shopping for a serious mouse, the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike should be on your list.
So, what’s the Pro X2 Superstrike about? It’s a mouse, of course, that takes the clicks of a conventional one and throws them away. Instead, the Superstrike takes a page from the MacBook playbook by borrowing its haptic motors for the clicking mechanism. It’s something that’s never been done before, yet still makes a ton of sense for serious gamers. But are these latency benefits even worth it? To answer this very question, I used the Pro X2 Superstrike for over two weeks. Spoiler alert: it might be the best gaming mouse I’ve used. Here’s why.
Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike Review
Hisan Kidwai
Summary
The Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike is something genuinely different. The haptic buttons are one-of-a-kind and work exceptionally well for both gaming and general productivity. In fast-paced games, the reduced actuation distance can actually make a noticeable difference to reaction times. The Logitech G Hub software is easy to use and offers plenty of customization, while the lightweight design makes it comfortable for long sessions.
Design & No Clicks???
Despite the all-new mechanism, which we’ll talk about soon, Logitech hasn’t changed much about the Superstrike’s design. Instead, it bears a striking resemblance to the SuperLight 2, and that’s not a bad thing. I’m a fan of this new Stormtrooper-inspired color with the white shell and black buttons. The shape is fairly standard without all the ergonomic trickery. The finish is smooth, doesn’t attract any fingerprints, and is super easy to clean, if you like eating Doritos like me when gaming. Weight is kept at 61g, for which the company pulled a lot of strings, like using titanium screws and drilling holes in the PCB. While comfort is subjective, my pain-prone wrists did like the Superstrike during long gaming sessions.
Let’s talk buttons and clicks. The two extra buttons on the left side are the standard kind, meaning they push down when you press them. The real magic happens on the left and right clicks. Logitech has developed a new system called HITS (Haptic Inductive Trigger System). It’s a bit of a mouthful for something that means the mouse combines tiny haptic motors with an electrical sensor to register a click. Remember the Hall Effect on the keyboard? It’s pretty much the same thing, except you can change when the click is registered.
The benefits of this system are pretty obvious. In most mice, the click is activated after 0.6mm of travel. It’s not a lot, but still more than an eSports player in the heat of a battle would like. With the Superstrike, you can set it to activate after just 0.1mm of travel. That’s incredibly sensitive and means your movements will be registered faster than anyone else’s when coming out of a corner in Valorant or CS2. Logitech claims up to a 30ms reduction in latency.
Speaking of those clicks, I do like them a lot. If you’ve used a MacBook trackpad, then these would be familiar. They are not quite as sharp but still really tactile. You can configure how hard the click should be. The feedback at the highest setting is simply lovely, and I’d actually much rather have these than buttons. What makes things even better is the consistency. Usually, when playing games that require rapid right-clicking, you need to press the button at the optimal area to minimize resistance. But with the Superstrike, you can tap anywhere, and both the feedback and actuation would remain the same.
Gaming on the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike
Let me get one thing straight: the Pro X2 Superstrike won’t make a bad gamer like me into an eSports player. It can, however, put a good player into eSports territory. I noticed that difference right away, when I first used the mouse, and thought, “Yup, this is it.” Logitech’s Hero sensors play beautifully with the HITS system. Sure, DPI can be set to an oblivion-like 44,000, but for the sake of my tiny 27-inch monitor, I kept it between 900 and 2,000. Tracking was more precise than any other mouse I’ve tested.
Let’s talk numbers. For testing, I picked up a generic ASUS mouse that used the same 2.5 GHz connection. The software of choice was AimLabs, a training ground for players to improve their reaction time by quickly hitting different objects on the screen. I first locked in with the regular mouse (three tries) and got an average reaction time of 243ms (not bad, right?). Then I switched to the Superstrike, with the clicks set to activate as soon as possible. In my best attempt, the reaction time was 218ms, which was noticeably better than my usual results.
But that’s not all the Superstrike has to offer. That’s because it introduces Rapid Triggers to a mouse for the very first time. For the uninitiated, Rapid Triggers are a keyboard technology that allows the keys to reset and re-actuate instantly after a slight lift of your finger.
I loved how it all comes together in games like CS2, where I went from averaging a few kills to at least landing some headshots. And that pretty much explains the Pro X2 Superstrike. It’s the best tool for gaming, and something you can rely on to help climb the eSports ladder.
For all my fellow Excel and Google Sheets users, while Superstrike isn’t really designed for productivity, I still used it as my daily driver for research. The results? I was doing spreadsheets a tad bit quicker thanks to the haptic clicks, which I configured to perfection. After a long day of work, I also noticed that my index finger didn’t hurt as much with a normal mouse.
Software & Customization
I talked about the customization part above, but to reiterate, the G Hub app handles it all. It’s available on both macOS and Windows and works pretty well. The app is neatly laid out with different sections. At the top is Sensitivity, which, as the name suggests, lets you adjust the DPI. If you’re new, Logitech has a bunch of presets baked in for different types of games. You can adjust the XY axis split, too. Beyond that, there are Assignments that let you assign different functions to the buttons and configure macros. The Scroll Wheel section has BHOP mode, designed to prevent activation from accidental bumps on the scroll wheel.
The real star is the HITS Configuration. Here, you adjust the Actuation point, or the point at which the haptic system registers a click. It can be set from a scale of 0-10, with zero requiring the least effort, and is better for gaming. Then there’s the Rapid Trigger adjustment, and lastly, Click Haptics. While a stronger haptic results in higher battery drain, I didn’t worry much as the Superstrike’s battery life is impressive. It lasted more than a week on a single charge, and I used it as my primary work mouse every day for 8 hours, too.
Verdict
At $189.99 or ₹23,995 on Amazon in India, I agree that the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike is a premium mouse. But unlike others, it’s something genuinely different. The haptic buttons are one-of-a-kind and work exceptionally well for both gaming and general productivity. In fast-paced games, the reduced actuation distance can actually make a noticeable difference to reaction times. The Logitech G Hub software is easy to use and offers plenty of customization, while the lightweight design makes it comfortable for long sessions. I’m sure we’ll see this tech being copied by others, but until then, if you’re shopping for a serious mouse, the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike should be on your list.
#Logitech #Pro #Superstrike #Review #Gaming #Mouse #Clicks #Perfectlogitech">Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike Review: This Gaming Mouse Has No Clicks and It’s Perfect
Gaming mice used to be at the forefront of exciting features, with brands working hard to gain a competitive edge. Sadly, that hasn’t happened in the last few years, as we’ve slowly gone down the numbers-game road, which isn’t scenic at all. These days, it’s only about which mouse has a DPI reaching high enough to operate a projector screen, or a weight so light it’s difficult to comprehend if you’re even holding something or not. Logitech, however, with its all-new Pro X2 Superstrike, has seen this trend and just said, “yeah, no.”
So, what’s the Pro X2 Superstrike about? It’s a mouse, of course, that takes the clicks of a conventional one and throws them away. Instead, the Superstrike takes a page from the MacBook playbook by borrowing its haptic motors for the clicking mechanism. It’s something that’s never been done before, yet still makes a ton of sense for serious gamers. But are these latency benefits even worth it? To answer this very question, I used the Pro X2 Superstrike for over two weeks. Spoiler alert: it might be the best gaming mouse I’ve used. Here’s why.
Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike Review
Hisan Kidwai
Summary
The Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike is something genuinely different. The haptic buttons are one-of-a-kind and work exceptionally well for both gaming and general productivity. In fast-paced games, the reduced actuation distance can actually make a noticeable difference to reaction times. The Logitech G Hub software is easy to use and offers plenty of customization, while the lightweight design makes it comfortable for long sessions.
Design & No Clicks???
Despite the all-new mechanism, which we’ll talk about soon, Logitech hasn’t changed much about the Superstrike’s design. Instead, it bears a striking resemblance to the SuperLight 2, and that’s not a bad thing. I’m a fan of this new Stormtrooper-inspired color with the white shell and black buttons. The shape is fairly standard without all the ergonomic trickery. The finish is smooth, doesn’t attract any fingerprints, and is super easy to clean, if you like eating Doritos like me when gaming. Weight is kept at 61g, for which the company pulled a lot of strings, like using titanium screws and drilling holes in the PCB. While comfort is subjective, my pain-prone wrists did like the Superstrike during long gaming sessions.
Let’s talk buttons and clicks. The two extra buttons on the left side are the standard kind, meaning they push down when you press them. The real magic happens on the left and right clicks. Logitech has developed a new system called HITS (Haptic Inductive Trigger System). It’s a bit of a mouthful for something that means the mouse combines tiny haptic motors with an electrical sensor to register a click. Remember the Hall Effect on the keyboard? It’s pretty much the same thing, except you can change when the click is registered.
The benefits of this system are pretty obvious. In most mice, the click is activated after 0.6mm of travel. It’s not a lot, but still more than an eSports player in the heat of a battle would like. With the Superstrike, you can set it to activate after just 0.1mm of travel. That’s incredibly sensitive and means your movements will be registered faster than anyone else’s when coming out of a corner in Valorant or CS2. Logitech claims up to a 30ms reduction in latency.
Speaking of those clicks, I do like them a lot. If you’ve used a MacBook trackpad, then these would be familiar. They are not quite as sharp but still really tactile. You can configure how hard the click should be. The feedback at the highest setting is simply lovely, and I’d actually much rather have these than buttons. What makes things even better is the consistency. Usually, when playing games that require rapid right-clicking, you need to press the button at the optimal area to minimize resistance. But with the Superstrike, you can tap anywhere, and both the feedback and actuation would remain the same.
Gaming on the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike
Let me get one thing straight: the Pro X2 Superstrike won’t make a bad gamer like me into an eSports player. It can, however, put a good player into eSports territory. I noticed that difference right away, when I first used the mouse, and thought, “Yup, this is it.” Logitech’s Hero sensors play beautifully with the HITS system. Sure, DPI can be set to an oblivion-like 44,000, but for the sake of my tiny 27-inch monitor, I kept it between 900 and 2,000. Tracking was more precise than any other mouse I’ve tested.
Let’s talk numbers. For testing, I picked up a generic ASUS mouse that used the same 2.5 GHz connection. The software of choice was AimLabs, a training ground for players to improve their reaction time by quickly hitting different objects on the screen. I first locked in with the regular mouse (three tries) and got an average reaction time of 243ms (not bad, right?). Then I switched to the Superstrike, with the clicks set to activate as soon as possible. In my best attempt, the reaction time was 218ms, which was noticeably better than my usual results.
But that’s not all the Superstrike has to offer. That’s because it introduces Rapid Triggers to a mouse for the very first time. For the uninitiated, Rapid Triggers are a keyboard technology that allows the keys to reset and re-actuate instantly after a slight lift of your finger.
I loved how it all comes together in games like CS2, where I went from averaging a few kills to at least landing some headshots. And that pretty much explains the Pro X2 Superstrike. It’s the best tool for gaming, and something you can rely on to help climb the eSports ladder.
For all my fellow Excel and Google Sheets users, while Superstrike isn’t really designed for productivity, I still used it as my daily driver for research. The results? I was doing spreadsheets a tad bit quicker thanks to the haptic clicks, which I configured to perfection. After a long day of work, I also noticed that my index finger didn’t hurt as much with a normal mouse.
Software & Customization
I talked about the customization part above, but to reiterate, the G Hub app handles it all. It’s available on both macOS and Windows and works pretty well. The app is neatly laid out with different sections. At the top is Sensitivity, which, as the name suggests, lets you adjust the DPI. If you’re new, Logitech has a bunch of presets baked in for different types of games. You can adjust the XY axis split, too. Beyond that, there are Assignments that let you assign different functions to the buttons and configure macros. The Scroll Wheel section has BHOP mode, designed to prevent activation from accidental bumps on the scroll wheel.
The real star is the HITS Configuration. Here, you adjust the Actuation point, or the point at which the haptic system registers a click. It can be set from a scale of 0-10, with zero requiring the least effort, and is better for gaming. Then there’s the Rapid Trigger adjustment, and lastly, Click Haptics. While a stronger haptic results in higher battery drain, I didn’t worry much as the Superstrike’s battery life is impressive. It lasted more than a week on a single charge, and I used it as my primary work mouse every day for 8 hours, too.
Verdict
At $189.99 or ₹23,995 on Amazon in India, I agree that the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike is a premium mouse. But unlike others, it’s something genuinely different. The haptic buttons are one-of-a-kind and work exceptionally well for both gaming and general productivity. In fast-paced games, the reduced actuation distance can actually make a noticeable difference to reaction times. The Logitech G Hub software is easy to use and offers plenty of customization, while the lightweight design makes it comfortable for long sessions. I’m sure we’ll see this tech being copied by others, but until then, if you’re shopping for a serious mouse, the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike should be on your list.
![Sam Altman’s project World looks to scale its human verification empire. First stop: Tinder. | TechCrunch
At a trendy venue near the San Francisco pier, Sam Altman’s verification project World celebrated its next evolution and rapid expansion of its ambitions. And it’s starting with Tinder.
Tools for Humanity (TFH), the company behind the World project, announced Friday plans to integrate its verification tech into dating apps, event and concert ticketing systems, business organizations, email, and other arenas of public life.
“The world is getting close to very powerful AI, and this is doing a lot of wonderful things,” said Altman, speaking before a packed crowd at The Midway. “We are also heading to a world now where there’s going to be more stuff generated by AI than by humans,” he added. “I’m sure many of you [have had moments] where you’re like, ‘Am I interacting with an AI or a person, or how much of each, and how do I know?”
World (formerly Worldcoin) distinguishes itself from many of its ID verification peers by offering the ability to verify that a real, living human is using a digital service while still protecting that person’s anonymity. There is some complex cryptographic alchemy behind this (something called “zero-knowledge proof-based authentication”). The upshot: The company is creating what it calls “proof of human” tools, which are mechanisms that can verify human activity in a world rife with AI agents and bots.
Its chief tool for verification is a spherical digital reader called the Orb that scans a user’s eyes, converting their iris into a unique and anonymous cryptographic identifier (known as a verified World ID). This can then be used to access World’s services, although users can also access World’s app without one.
Altman kept his remarks brief on Friday (TFH’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Blania, was absent due to a last-minute hand surgery, Altman said). He then turned much of the presentation over to World’s chief product officer, Tiago Sada, and his team.
Sada explained that World was launching the newest version of its app (the last version was launched at an event in December), along with a plethora of new integrations for its technology.
World has been preparing, for some time, to deploy a verification service for dating apps — most notably, Tinder. Last year, Tinder launched a World ID pilot program in Japan. That pilot was apparently a success because World announced that Tinder would be launching its verification integration in global markets —including the U.S. The program integrates a World ID emblem into the profiles of users who have gone through its verification processes, thus authenticating them as a real person.
Image Credits:World
World is also courting the entertainment industry by launching a new feature called Concert Kit, where musical artists can reserve a certain number of concert tickets for World ID-verified humans. This is designed to ensure that fans are safe from scalpers who often use automated ticket-buying bots to scarf up seats. Concert Kit is compatible with major ticketing systems, including Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, and the company is promoting it via partnerships with 30 Seconds to Mars and Bruno Mars — both of whom plan to use it for their upcoming tours.
The event was full of many other announcements, including some aimed at businesses. A Zoom/World ID verification integration seeks to battle a supposed deepfake threat to business calls, and a Docusign partnership is designed to ensure signatures come from authentic users.
The company is also working on a number of features in anticipation of the Wild West of the agentic web, including one called “agent delegation,” in which a person can delegate their World ID to an agent to carry out online activities on their behalf. A partnership with authentication firm Okta has also created a system (currently in beta) that verifies that an agent is acting on behalf of a human. The system is set up so that a World ID can be tied to a specific agent and then, when the agent goes out into the web to operate on that person’s behalf, websites will know a verified person is behind the behavior, said Okta’s chief product officer, Gareth Davies, at the event.
So far, it’s been difficult for World to scale, due largely to the verification process itself. For much of the company’s history, to get its gold standard, you had to travel to one of its offices and have your eyeballs scanned by an Orb — a fairly inconvenient (not to mention weird) experience.
Image Credits:World
However, World has continually made moves to increase the ease and incentive structure for verification. In the past, it offered its crypto asset, Worldcoin, to some members who signed up and has distributed its Orbs into big retail chains so that users can verify themselves while they’re out shopping or getting a coffee. Now the company is announcing that it is significantly expanding its Orb saturation in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The company also promoted a service where interested users could have World bring an Orb to their location for remote verification.
In a conversation with TechCrunch, Sada also shared that World has attempted to solve the scaling problem by creating different tiers of verification. The highest tier is Orb verification, but below that, World has previously offered a mid-level tier, which uses an anonymized scan of an official government ID via the card’s NFC chip.
The company also introduced a low-level tier, or what Sada called “low friction”— meaning low effort, I guess, but also “low security” — which involves merely taking a selfie.
Selfie Check, which Sada’s team presented during the event, is designed to maintain user privacy.
“Selfie is private by design,” said Daniel Shorr, one of TFH’s executives, during the presentation. “That means that we maximize the local processing that’s happening on your device, on your phone, which means that your images are yours.”
Selfie verification obviously isn’t new, and fraudsters have long managed to spoof it. “Obviously, we do our best, and it’s like one of the best systems that you’ll see for this. But it has limits,” Sada told TechCrunch. Developers looking to integrate World’s services can choose from the three different verification tiers depending on the level of security that’s important to them, he noted.
#Sam #Altmans #project #World #scale #human #verification #empire #stop #Tinder #TechCrunchDocuSign,sam altman,Tinder,World,Worldcoin,zoom](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-1.55.00-PM.png?w=680 "Sam Altman’s project World looks to scale its human verification empire. First stop: Tinder. | TechCrunch
At a trendy venue near the San Francisco pier, Sam Altman’s verification project World celebrated its next evolution and rapid expansion of its ambitions. And it’s starting with Tinder.
Tools for Humanity (TFH), the company behind the World project, announced Friday plans to integrate its verification tech into dating apps, event and concert ticketing systems, business organizations, email, and other arenas of public life.
“The world is getting close to very powerful AI, and this is doing a lot of wonderful things,” said Altman, speaking before a packed crowd at The Midway. “We are also heading to a world now where there’s going to be more stuff generated by AI than by humans,” he added. “I’m sure many of you [have had moments] where you’re like, ‘Am I interacting with an AI or a person, or how much of each, and how do I know?”
World (formerly Worldcoin) distinguishes itself from many of its ID verification peers by offering the ability to verify that a real, living human is using a digital service while still protecting that person’s anonymity. There is some complex cryptographic alchemy behind this (something called “zero-knowledge proof-based authentication”). The upshot: The company is creating what it calls “proof of human” tools, which are mechanisms that can verify human activity in a world rife with AI agents and bots.
Its chief tool for verification is a spherical digital reader called the Orb that scans a user’s eyes, converting their iris into a unique and anonymous cryptographic identifier (known as a verified World ID). This can then be used to access World’s services, although users can also access World’s app without one.
Altman kept his remarks brief on Friday (TFH’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Blania, was absent due to a last-minute hand surgery, Altman said). He then turned much of the presentation over to World’s chief product officer, Tiago Sada, and his team.
Sada explained that World was launching the newest version of its app (the last version was launched at an event in December), along with a plethora of new integrations for its technology.
World has been preparing, for some time, to deploy a verification service for dating apps — most notably, Tinder. Last year, Tinder launched a World ID pilot program in Japan. That pilot was apparently a success because World announced that Tinder would be launching its verification integration in global markets —including the U.S. The program integrates a World ID emblem into the profiles of users who have gone through its verification processes, thus authenticating them as a real person.
Image Credits:World
World is also courting the entertainment industry by launching a new feature called Concert Kit, where musical artists can reserve a certain number of concert tickets for World ID-verified humans. This is designed to ensure that fans are safe from scalpers who often use automated ticket-buying bots to scarf up seats. Concert Kit is compatible with major ticketing systems, including Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, and the company is promoting it via partnerships with 30 Seconds to Mars and Bruno Mars — both of whom plan to use it for their upcoming tours.
The event was full of many other announcements, including some aimed at businesses. A Zoom/World ID verification integration seeks to battle a supposed deepfake threat to business calls, and a Docusign partnership is designed to ensure signatures come from authentic users.
The company is also working on a number of features in anticipation of the Wild West of the agentic web, including one called “agent delegation,” in which a person can delegate their World ID to an agent to carry out online activities on their behalf. A partnership with authentication firm Okta has also created a system (currently in beta) that verifies that an agent is acting on behalf of a human. The system is set up so that a World ID can be tied to a specific agent and then, when the agent goes out into the web to operate on that person’s behalf, websites will know a verified person is behind the behavior, said Okta’s chief product officer, Gareth Davies, at the event.
So far, it’s been difficult for World to scale, due largely to the verification process itself. For much of the company’s history, to get its gold standard, you had to travel to one of its offices and have your eyeballs scanned by an Orb — a fairly inconvenient (not to mention weird) experience.
Image Credits:World
However, World has continually made moves to increase the ease and incentive structure for verification. In the past, it offered its crypto asset, Worldcoin, to some members who signed up and has distributed its Orbs into big retail chains so that users can verify themselves while they’re out shopping or getting a coffee. Now the company is announcing that it is significantly expanding its Orb saturation in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The company also promoted a service where interested users could have World bring an Orb to their location for remote verification.
In a conversation with TechCrunch, Sada also shared that World has attempted to solve the scaling problem by creating different tiers of verification. The highest tier is Orb verification, but below that, World has previously offered a mid-level tier, which uses an anonymized scan of an official government ID via the card’s NFC chip.
The company also introduced a low-level tier, or what Sada called “low friction”— meaning low effort, I guess, but also “low security” — which involves merely taking a selfie.
Selfie Check, which Sada’s team presented during the event, is designed to maintain user privacy.
“Selfie is private by design,” said Daniel Shorr, one of TFH’s executives, during the presentation. “That means that we maximize the local processing that’s happening on your device, on your phone, which means that your images are yours.”
Selfie verification obviously isn’t new, and fraudsters have long managed to spoof it. “Obviously, we do our best, and it’s like one of the best systems that you’ll see for this. But it has limits,” Sada told TechCrunch. Developers looking to integrate World’s services can choose from the three different verification tiers depending on the level of security that’s important to them, he noted.
#Sam #Altmans #project #World #scale #human #verification #empire #stop #Tinder #TechCrunchDocuSign,sam altman,Tinder,World,Worldcoin,zoom")
![Sam Altman’s project World looks to scale its human verification empire. First stop: Tinder. | TechCrunch
At a trendy venue near the San Francisco pier, Sam Altman’s verification project World celebrated its next evolution and rapid expansion of its ambitions. And it’s starting with Tinder.
Tools for Humanity (TFH), the company behind the World project, announced Friday plans to integrate its verification tech into dating apps, event and concert ticketing systems, business organizations, email, and other arenas of public life.
“The world is getting close to very powerful AI, and this is doing a lot of wonderful things,” said Altman, speaking before a packed crowd at The Midway. “We are also heading to a world now where there’s going to be more stuff generated by AI than by humans,” he added. “I’m sure many of you [have had moments] where you’re like, ‘Am I interacting with an AI or a person, or how much of each, and how do I know?”
World (formerly Worldcoin) distinguishes itself from many of its ID verification peers by offering the ability to verify that a real, living human is using a digital service while still protecting that person’s anonymity. There is some complex cryptographic alchemy behind this (something called “zero-knowledge proof-based authentication”). The upshot: The company is creating what it calls “proof of human” tools, which are mechanisms that can verify human activity in a world rife with AI agents and bots.
Its chief tool for verification is a spherical digital reader called the Orb that scans a user’s eyes, converting their iris into a unique and anonymous cryptographic identifier (known as a verified World ID). This can then be used to access World’s services, although users can also access World’s app without one.
Altman kept his remarks brief on Friday (TFH’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Blania, was absent due to a last-minute hand surgery, Altman said). He then turned much of the presentation over to World’s chief product officer, Tiago Sada, and his team.
Sada explained that World was launching the newest version of its app (the last version was launched at an event in December), along with a plethora of new integrations for its technology.
World has been preparing, for some time, to deploy a verification service for dating apps — most notably, Tinder. Last year, Tinder launched a World ID pilot program in Japan. That pilot was apparently a success because World announced that Tinder would be launching its verification integration in global markets —including the U.S. The program integrates a World ID emblem into the profiles of users who have gone through its verification processes, thus authenticating them as a real person.
Image Credits:World
World is also courting the entertainment industry by launching a new feature called Concert Kit, where musical artists can reserve a certain number of concert tickets for World ID-verified humans. This is designed to ensure that fans are safe from scalpers who often use automated ticket-buying bots to scarf up seats. Concert Kit is compatible with major ticketing systems, including Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, and the company is promoting it via partnerships with 30 Seconds to Mars and Bruno Mars — both of whom plan to use it for their upcoming tours.
The event was full of many other announcements, including some aimed at businesses. A Zoom/World ID verification integration seeks to battle a supposed deepfake threat to business calls, and a Docusign partnership is designed to ensure signatures come from authentic users.
The company is also working on a number of features in anticipation of the Wild West of the agentic web, including one called “agent delegation,” in which a person can delegate their World ID to an agent to carry out online activities on their behalf. A partnership with authentication firm Okta has also created a system (currently in beta) that verifies that an agent is acting on behalf of a human. The system is set up so that a World ID can be tied to a specific agent and then, when the agent goes out into the web to operate on that person’s behalf, websites will know a verified person is behind the behavior, said Okta’s chief product officer, Gareth Davies, at the event.
So far, it’s been difficult for World to scale, due largely to the verification process itself. For much of the company’s history, to get its gold standard, you had to travel to one of its offices and have your eyeballs scanned by an Orb — a fairly inconvenient (not to mention weird) experience.
Image Credits:World
However, World has continually made moves to increase the ease and incentive structure for verification. In the past, it offered its crypto asset, Worldcoin, to some members who signed up and has distributed its Orbs into big retail chains so that users can verify themselves while they’re out shopping or getting a coffee. Now the company is announcing that it is significantly expanding its Orb saturation in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The company also promoted a service where interested users could have World bring an Orb to their location for remote verification.
In a conversation with TechCrunch, Sada also shared that World has attempted to solve the scaling problem by creating different tiers of verification. The highest tier is Orb verification, but below that, World has previously offered a mid-level tier, which uses an anonymized scan of an official government ID via the card’s NFC chip.
The company also introduced a low-level tier, or what Sada called “low friction”— meaning low effort, I guess, but also “low security” — which involves merely taking a selfie.
Selfie Check, which Sada’s team presented during the event, is designed to maintain user privacy.
“Selfie is private by design,” said Daniel Shorr, one of TFH’s executives, during the presentation. “That means that we maximize the local processing that’s happening on your device, on your phone, which means that your images are yours.”
Selfie verification obviously isn’t new, and fraudsters have long managed to spoof it. “Obviously, we do our best, and it’s like one of the best systems that you’ll see for this. But it has limits,” Sada told TechCrunch. Developers looking to integrate World’s services can choose from the three different verification tiers depending on the level of security that’s important to them, he noted.
#Sam #Altmans #project #World #scale #human #verification #empire #stop #Tinder #TechCrunchDocuSign,sam altman,Tinder,World,Worldcoin,zoom](https://i2.wp.com/techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-17-at-1.55.00-PM.png?w=680&ssl=1 "Sam Altman’s project World looks to scale its human verification empire. First stop: Tinder. | TechCrunch
At a trendy venue near the San Francisco pier, Sam Altman’s verification project World celebrated its next evolution and rapid expansion of its ambitions. And it’s starting with Tinder.
Tools for Humanity (TFH), the company behind the World project, announced Friday plans to integrate its verification tech into dating apps, event and concert ticketing systems, business organizations, email, and other arenas of public life.
“The world is getting close to very powerful AI, and this is doing a lot of wonderful things,” said Altman, speaking before a packed crowd at The Midway. “We are also heading to a world now where there’s going to be more stuff generated by AI than by humans,” he added. “I’m sure many of you [have had moments] where you’re like, ‘Am I interacting with an AI or a person, or how much of each, and how do I know?”
World (formerly Worldcoin) distinguishes itself from many of its ID verification peers by offering the ability to verify that a real, living human is using a digital service while still protecting that person’s anonymity. There is some complex cryptographic alchemy behind this (something called “zero-knowledge proof-based authentication”). The upshot: The company is creating what it calls “proof of human” tools, which are mechanisms that can verify human activity in a world rife with AI agents and bots.
Its chief tool for verification is a spherical digital reader called the Orb that scans a user’s eyes, converting their iris into a unique and anonymous cryptographic identifier (known as a verified World ID). This can then be used to access World’s services, although users can also access World’s app without one.
Altman kept his remarks brief on Friday (TFH’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Blania, was absent due to a last-minute hand surgery, Altman said). He then turned much of the presentation over to World’s chief product officer, Tiago Sada, and his team.
Sada explained that World was launching the newest version of its app (the last version was launched at an event in December), along with a plethora of new integrations for its technology.
World has been preparing, for some time, to deploy a verification service for dating apps — most notably, Tinder. Last year, Tinder launched a World ID pilot program in Japan. That pilot was apparently a success because World announced that Tinder would be launching its verification integration in global markets —including the U.S. The program integrates a World ID emblem into the profiles of users who have gone through its verification processes, thus authenticating them as a real person.
Image Credits:World
World is also courting the entertainment industry by launching a new feature called Concert Kit, where musical artists can reserve a certain number of concert tickets for World ID-verified humans. This is designed to ensure that fans are safe from scalpers who often use automated ticket-buying bots to scarf up seats. Concert Kit is compatible with major ticketing systems, including Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, and the company is promoting it via partnerships with 30 Seconds to Mars and Bruno Mars — both of whom plan to use it for their upcoming tours.
The event was full of many other announcements, including some aimed at businesses. A Zoom/World ID verification integration seeks to battle a supposed deepfake threat to business calls, and a Docusign partnership is designed to ensure signatures come from authentic users.
The company is also working on a number of features in anticipation of the Wild West of the agentic web, including one called “agent delegation,” in which a person can delegate their World ID to an agent to carry out online activities on their behalf. A partnership with authentication firm Okta has also created a system (currently in beta) that verifies that an agent is acting on behalf of a human. The system is set up so that a World ID can be tied to a specific agent and then, when the agent goes out into the web to operate on that person’s behalf, websites will know a verified person is behind the behavior, said Okta’s chief product officer, Gareth Davies, at the event.
So far, it’s been difficult for World to scale, due largely to the verification process itself. For much of the company’s history, to get its gold standard, you had to travel to one of its offices and have your eyeballs scanned by an Orb — a fairly inconvenient (not to mention weird) experience.
Image Credits:World
However, World has continually made moves to increase the ease and incentive structure for verification. In the past, it offered its crypto asset, Worldcoin, to some members who signed up and has distributed its Orbs into big retail chains so that users can verify themselves while they’re out shopping or getting a coffee. Now the company is announcing that it is significantly expanding its Orb saturation in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The company also promoted a service where interested users could have World bring an Orb to their location for remote verification.
In a conversation with TechCrunch, Sada also shared that World has attempted to solve the scaling problem by creating different tiers of verification. The highest tier is Orb verification, but below that, World has previously offered a mid-level tier, which uses an anonymized scan of an official government ID via the card’s NFC chip.
The company also introduced a low-level tier, or what Sada called “low friction”— meaning low effort, I guess, but also “low security” — which involves merely taking a selfie.
Selfie Check, which Sada’s team presented during the event, is designed to maintain user privacy.
“Selfie is private by design,” said Daniel Shorr, one of TFH’s executives, during the presentation. “That means that we maximize the local processing that’s happening on your device, on your phone, which means that your images are yours.”
Selfie verification obviously isn’t new, and fraudsters have long managed to spoof it. “Obviously, we do our best, and it’s like one of the best systems that you’ll see for this. But it has limits,” Sada told TechCrunch. Developers looking to integrate World’s services can choose from the three different verification tiers depending on the level of security that’s important to them, he noted.
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