Clerk is advancing authentication and user management APIs by offering a system that allows developers to manage user records without relying extensively on webhooks, thus simplifying the developer experience. The traditional use of webhooks, while providing reliability and enabling data redundancy, demands significant engineering resources to implement and maintain. Clerk proposes real-time data requests as an alternative, addressing latency concerns through technologies like React for frontend data loading and edge computing to minimize latency in data authorization. This approach utilizes JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) for efficient session authentication, reducing latency and enhancing integration with third-party services. Clerk's strategies aim to streamline API integrations, anticipating a shift towards more frontend-accessible APIs that leverage JWTs, thereby fostering faster development processes and increasing developer satisfaction.