The a16z Show

Voice-First Apps, AI Moats, Never-Ending Games, and Anime. We asked over 40 partners across a16z to preview one big idea they believe will drive innovation in 2024. Here in our 3-part series, you’ll hear directly from partners across all our verticals, as we dive even more deeply into these ideas. What’s the why now? Who is already building in these spaces? What opportunities and challenges are on...

Arthur Mensch is the co-founder of Mistral and the co-author of Deepmind’s pivotal 2022 "Chinchilla" paper. In September 2023, Mistral released Mistral-7B, an advanced open-source language model that has rapidly become the top choice for developers. Just this week, they introduced a new mixture of experts model – Mixtral — that’s already generating significant buzz among AI developers. As the batt...

Smart energy grids. Voice-first companion apps. Programmable medicines. AI tools for kids.
We asked over 40 partners across a16z to preview one big idea they believe will drive innovation in 2024. Here in our 3-part series, you’ll hear directly from partners across all our verticals, as we dive even more deeply into these ideas. What’s the why now? Who is already building in these spaces? What opp...

One topic at the center of the AI universe this week is a potential breakthrough called Q*. Little has been revealed about this OpenAI project, other than its likely relationship to solving certain grade-school mathematical problems. Amid much speculation, we decided to bring in our new general partner, Anjney Midha – focused on all things AI – to sift through the sea of noise. Today, we discuss t...

with @davidmarcus @smc90 This wide-ranging conversation covers company building, big to small -- including what cadence and when is the right "time" to ship; the relationship between centralization, decentralization, platforms, and financial freedom; moving from web2 to web3 in both crypto AND payments... as well as why bitcoin, views on remote work, and much much more.  Our guest is David Marcus...

Taking a company from idea to household name is always difficult. But the past few years presented challenges that caught even the most-seasoned CEOs off guard. In this episode, you’ll hear from two CEOs that navigated these waters and somehow, came out on the other side. These recordings come straight from our exclusive Connect/Enterprise event, bringing together top executives across the a16z ne...

Fei-Fei Li, PhD,  Professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, and Co-Director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute, joins Bio + Health founding partner Vijay Pande. In this candid conversation, Li unfolds her transformation from a young immigrant to an influential figure in AI. The conversation explores the birth of ImageNet, a pivotal step that bridged the gap betwee...

Is it possible to construct a virtual society that authentically replicates human behavior? AI Town, a virtual town experiment where AI residents live, interact, and engage, provides valuable insights into the future of AI's believability and its interaction with humanity. In this panel discussion, Joon Park, the author of 'Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior,' and Martin Ca...

Software crosses borders effortlessly. The globalization of money, however, is considerably more challenging. This is especially true for multinational businesses, which grapple with managing multiple accounts in diverse currencies, navigating costly foreign exchange rates, and unpredictable money transfers. As businesses increasingly embrace a global default, top fintech entrepreneurs are rising...

Subscribe to The Ben & Marc Show on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3SdsfNt Subscribe to The Ben & Marc Show on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3SclPOr Read the full manifesto: https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/   This past week, Marc released his new vision for the future – “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto”. In an article that has sparked widespread conversation across traditional and social...

As VR technology inches forward, completely new experiences loom on the horizon. In today’s episode, we expose listeners to the very real-world use cases already present on these devices, from fitness to education. First up is Gym Class VR, one of the top-rated apps on the Quest. Cofounder, Paul Katsen, shows us how to dribble and dunk in the metaverse, but more importantly, discusses the social i...

Today’s episode continues our coverage from a16z’s recent AI Revolution event. You’ll hear directly from a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Databricks cofounder and CEO, Ali Ghodsi as they answer questions around AI and the enterprise, plus their perspectives on open source, whether benchmarks are BS, and the scramble of universities to take part in the very wave they kicked off decades ago. If you’d...

Today’s episode continues our coverage from a16z’s recent AI Revolution event. You’ll hear a16z Bio & Health GP Vijay Pande speak with Daphne Koller about the fascinating convergence of machine learning and genomics – two industries that have benefitted decades of investment and progress – which are now colliding head on. Daphne is a prominent innovator at this intersection, as a long-time profess...

The AI Revolution is here. In this episode, you’ll learn what the most important themes that some of the world’s most prominent AI builders – from OpenAI, Anthropic, CharacterAI, Roblox, and more – are paying attention to. You’ll hear discussion around the real-world impact of this revolution, on industries ranging from gaming to design, and the considerations around alignment along the way. This...

The AI Revolution is here. In this episode, you’ll learn what the most important themes that some of the world’s most prominent AI builders – from OpenAI, Anthropic, CharacterAI, Roblox, and more – are paying attention to. You’ll hear about the economics of AI, broad vs specialized models, the importance of UX, and whether we can expect scaling laws to continue. This footage is from an exclusive e...

The space industry is evolving rapidly, with the cost of launching payloads to orbit dropping significantly. But who's investing in this sector, and how will it evolve?  In this episode, we delve into the transformative journey of the satellite industry with Andy Lapsa, co-founder of Stoke Space. With over a decade of experience at Blue Origin, Andy is now at the forefront of sustainable space tra...

The cost of launching payloads to orbit has dramatically dropped, igniting a space renaissance. In 2022, a record 186 rocket launches (41 more than the previous year!) underscores this shift. In Part 1 of our satellite economy mini-series, we sit down with John Gedmark, co-founder of Astranis, to reflect on today's innovations, who’s on the other side of the satellite market, the capabilities they...

with @alive_eth @danboneh @smc90 This week's all-new episode covers the convergence of two important, very top-of-mind trends: AI (artificial intelligence) & blockchains/ crypto. These domains together have major implications for how we all live our lives everyday; so this episode is for anyone just curious about, or already building in the space.  The conversation covers topics ranging from deep...

With recent landmark legislation being passed around salary transparency, many companies are playing catch up as they interpret and implement changes. In this episode, members of the a16z People Operations team,  Shannon Schiltz and Brandon Cherry explore how companies can best prepare themselves to not just survive, but thrive in this new environment.   Topics Covered: 00:00 - Salary transparency...

How many people spend more time organizing their “second brains”, instead of leveraging the information within them?  With consumer AI now capable of processing simple language prompts and interfacing with unstructured data, is the landscape of information management on the brink of a transformative evolution? Founders of Mem, Kevin Moody and Dennis Xu, plus writer Nat Eliason, explore what’s gott...

In this exclusive conversation from a16z’s Bio and Health BUILD Summit, founding partner Ben Horowitz sits down with general partner Jorge Conde. They discuss everything from the inspiration behind Ben’s book The Hard Thing About Hard Things, how the open Internet was secured, the difference between wartime and peacetime CEOs, scaling culture, and understanding how bio & healthcare differs from ot...

From artificial limbs to memory foam, many inventions have emerged from our quest to understand the cosmos.  In this episode we explore cosmic history, space's impact on technology, and the enduring human fascination with space exploration. To take us on this journey is astrophysicist John Mather, a Nobel Prize winner for his work on the COBE satellite and a key figure in the James Webb Space Tele...

With students learning in more places and different ways than we have ever seen, the pace of change in education is dizzying. Can this progress narrow learning gaps exacerbated by COVID-19 or will it fuel divides? How can we make the most of this once-in-a-generation opportunity? Join our panelists from Khan Academy, PrismsVR, and Minecraft Education as we discuss the classroom of the future, and...

With software becoming more important than ever, hardware is following suit. As the world generates more data, unlocking the full potential of AI means a constant need for faster and more resilient hardware.  But how much does this all really cost? In this final segment of our AI hardware series, we tackle that question head on.  Be sure to check part 1 and 2, where we explore the emerging archite...

With the world constantly generating more data, unlocking the full potential of AI means a constant need for faster and more resilient hardware. In this episode – the second in our three-part series – we explore the challenges for founders trying to build AI companies. We dive into the delta between supply and demand, whether to own or rent, where moats can be found, and even where open source com...