Backstage at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference on Wednesday, Rose explained that he sees the future of social as being more focused on protected online spaces and "micro communities of trusted users." "I just have to imagine that, as the cost to deploy agents drops to next to nothing, we're just gonna see...bots act as though they're humans," he said. "So, small trusted communities, proof of heartbeat - there's an actual human on the other end...is important."
Ever wonder if you're talking to a real person online or just another bot? As bots increasingly outnumber humans online, leading to an explosion of deepfakes and AI-driven fraud, one company has a solution straight out of sci-fi: scanning your iris to verify your identity. Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan spoke with Adrian Ludwig, Chief Security Officer and Chief Architect at Tools for Humanity, the company behind World's eye-scanning Orbs appearing around the globe.