By: Zach Gebhard, Orpical Technology Solutions 

From Slack to Instagram to Zoom, history shows that technology’s most significant breakthroughs often began with a handful of curious early adopters. Now, Langis.ai is inviting over 1,000 beta users to join in making business connections feel more human.

When most people think of tech innovation, they picture coders, founders, or investors. But behind nearly every great software success story is a smaller, often overlooked group: the beta users, those early pioneers who test an unfinished product, offer feedback, and help shape its direction before the rest of the world ever sees it.

From the first testers of Slack’s workplace messaging tool to the photographers who experimented with Instagram’s filters before its public release, beta users have historically played a defining role in shaping technology that later transformed industries.

Now, a New York-based startup, Langis.ai, is hopeful that the same model of collaboration can help artificial intelligence learn one of humanity’s most complex skills: connection.

The Company Teaching AI to Understand Connection

Led by CEO Layne Frank, Langis.ai is preparing for a limited beta launch. Opening its platform to over 1,000 individual users, these participants won’t just preview a product; they will have a chance to help train it.

At the heart of Langis is a patent-pending Connection Compatibility Algorithm (CCA), a system that analyzes compatibility among individuals based on personality traits, goals, timing, and behavior. The company describes it as “AI that learns how people connect, not just how they click.”

But Langis isn’t building another social network. Instead, it aims to create what it calls connection intelligence: technology that helps users discover people they may want to meet, understand why, and find a clearer path to mutual collaboration and success.

“These first users are more than testers,” Frank says. “They’re trailblazers. Their experiences will help teach our AI what makes two people compatible in a professional and personal sense.”

Each beta participant will receive a permanent ‘Founding Adopter’ badge on their public profile, signifying their role in developing the system, and will be eligible for incentives and prizes based on feedback and engagement quality.

The Legacy of Beta Users in Tech Innovation

While the term “beta” might sound like a formality, it’s often where the real innovation happens.

When Slack began as an internal communication tool, early testers helped refine its search functions, notifications, and channel structure, turning it into one of the fastest-growing workplace products in history.

When Instagram was in pre-launch testing, beta photographers asked for better editing tools and more organic ways to discover others’ content, directly influencing the app’s signature filters and minimalist design.

When Zoom was first deployed, its beta users stressed the importance of video quality and one-click simplicity features that later defined it as the go-to tool for global communication during the pandemic.

Dropbox, now a household name, was shaped by its first testers, who exposed flaws in synchronization speed and usability. Their feedback pushed the team to make “it just works” the company’s central mantra.

“The pattern is consistent,” says Edward DuCoin, Langis executive and longtime entrepreneur. “The people who join early don’t just test, they co-create. Their ideas, concerns, and overall inspiration stay inherent to the product forever.”

Langis’s leadership believes that its first adopters will hold similar influence, teaching the AI the nuances of trust, empathy, and compatibility.

Inside the Langis Beta

When Langis begins initial system testing with users in late Q4, individuals will gain access to two core tools:

• Smart Matchmaking: AI-powered introductions that connect users based on goals, shared purpose, and collaboration potential.

• Dynamic Dashboards: Personal analytics that show how your connections evolve, which relationships deepen, and where new opportunities arise.

The company calls the beta a “shared experiment in connection.”

Unlike typical social platforms, where engagement is measured in clicks or followers, Langis tracks connection quality, which measures the mutual value between users.

“Our system doesn’t reward popularity,” says Stefan Schulz, Langis’s Chief Technology Officer. “It rewards authenticity. The better we understand how people form meaningful relationships, the smarter the platform becomes.”

The Science of Connection Compatibility

Langis’s Connection Compatibility Algorithm (CCA) is designed around three categories of data:

• Explicit data: What users share directly, such as skills, goals, interests, and intentions.

• Implicit data: What the system learns through behavior—who participants are matched to, how they communicate, and what patterns emerge over time.

• Temporal data: When and how relationships form, strengthen, or fade.

The AI fuses these insights to generate personalized recommendations, resulting in a clearer direction that people may not know but likely should.

“It’s not simple or random or basic matchmaking,” Schulz clarifies. “It pulls everything together. It’s more meaningful. More intentional. The CCA is designed to identify not just who you are, but who you’re most likely to create something valuable with.”

Why Beta Users Hold the Power

In today’s tech landscape, individual users have the opportunity to influence how platforms evolve. Beta programs like Langis’s offer a direct exchange between creator and user.

“Being a beta user is like getting a front-row seat to innovation,” says Frank. “You’re not just using the technology, you’re shaping how it works for millions who will follow.”

Langis’s team views its early adopters as architects of the algorithm. Every conversation, rating, and piece of feedback trains the system to interpret human nuance.

Each participant’s contributions will be tracked and credited, making the permanent Founding Adopter badge both a symbol of status and of legacy.

“It’s like being part of the first few thousand users on Instagram or the first designers on Canva,” DuCoin says. “The difference is, this time, the technology learns directly from each participant.”

Why the Timing Feels Familiar

The world is at a turning point, similar to the early 2010s, when smartphones, social media, and collaboration tools converged to reshape communication.

Today’s convergence looks different: it’s AI, human connection, and personal agency.
A 2024 McKinsey study found that professionals who maintain smaller, higher-quality networks report 50% greater career satisfaction and 30% higher productivity than those with larger, less personal circles. Yet most digital tools still optimize for volume, not value.

Langis aims to change that.

“AI is finally ready to help people connect, not just communicate,” says Frank. “We’ve spent decades teaching algorithms to sell to us. It’s time to teach one to understand us.”

The Return of the Human Element in Tech

The story of beta users is also the story of human curiosity. They are the first to step into the unknown, not because something is perfect, but because they see potential.

Langis’s beta is built on that spirit. Participants will test, question, and even break the system, and in doing so, help it learn empathy, discernment, and context.

“AI without human guidance is just math- a base prompt and answer, a plan on a board,” Schulz says. “The beta makes it human. It really makes it a living process, a real exchange between people to help create something better.”

Privacy and transparency remain central to the platform. All user data is first-party and consent-based, stored securely, and never sold.

The Bigger Picture: Redefining What Networking Means

If the first wave of digital networking was about expansion, collecting followers, contacts, and connections, the next wave is about precision.

Langis is positioning itself as part of a new category: connection intelligence. The company believes that in the near future, AI agents won’t just automate tasks; they’ll enhance how people build relationships.

“LinkedIn helps you find everyone,” DuCoin says. “Langis helps you find the right one.”

The company is already developing “vertical agents” for future releases, AI models fine-tuned for specific industry groups like law and education.

The Call to Build Something Bigger

When Langis opens its beta in Q4, the first users will do more than try a new app. They’ll become part of a living experiment in how technology can rediscover humanity.

“Being a beta user today is like being in the garage of Apple or the dorm room of Facebook with the early innovators of the internet,” Frank says. “You’re not waiting for the future; you’re helping to build it.”

For those who’ve ever wondered what it felt like to test the first version of Slack or post the first photo on Instagram, this is that moment again: a chance to be there when something world-changing is still taking shape.

History shows that beta users are often the unsung co-founders of innovation. Langis.ai is reviving that tradition, inviting a select group of individuals to help train an AI that not only analyzes people but also understands them. The first participants won’t just have badges on their profiles. They’ll have played a role in teaching technology what it means to be human.

Langis.ai at a Glance

• Founded: 2024 (New York, NY)

• CEO: Layne Frank

• Website: www.langis.ai