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2025 AI Productivity Stack: 10 AI Tools I Use Weekly to Get More Done
a16z· 2025-08-12 13:00
I'm Olivia Moore and I'm a partner on the AI investment team here at A16Z. One of the best parts of my job is I get to test lots of new AI products, often dozens in a single week. And over the last 2 years, I've landed on a core stack of 10 products that I use weekly or even daily that make me a lot more productive.This is my AI stack. First up is Comet, which is Perplexity's new AI browser. It's become my default browser, but also more uniquely, I use it to triage my email and my calendar.It connects direc ...
Steven Sinofsky & Balaji Srinivasan on the Future of AI, Tech, & the Global World Order
a16z· 2025-08-08 13:00
For four years, it was just a desert. A bunch of companies silently died. The state blocked IPOs. They're blocking M&As. There's an allout anti-tech assault. DC is this zero sum game. There's something positive out there. So, it has to acrue to the the DC power base. Figma managed to make its way through that. Absolutely no thanks to, you know, the state attacking it. And then Lena Khan decided to take a victory lap on this, which was, as I said, it's like the assassin congratulating themselves for helping ...
GPT-5 Breakdown – w/ OpenAI Researchers Christina Kim & Isa Fulford
a16z· 2025-08-08 03:00
I mean, I think it's pretty unique at OpenAI to be able to work on something that's so generally useful. I mean, it's like everything they tell you not to do at a startup. It's just like your user is anyone.You just kind of take it for granted that you literally have this like wizard in your pocket. We're trying to make the most capable thing. And we're also trying to have as make it useful to as many people as possible and accessible to as many people as possible.If this exponential is true, like there's n ...
Balaji on How Tech Truly Wins Media
a16z· 2025-08-01 12:30
Media & Tech Industry Dynamics - The internet disrupted blue America, leading to a collapse in newspaper revenue from approximately $70 billion in 2000 [1] - Tech companies are challenging the state's traditional roles, leading to conflict as their share of the global pie expands [2] - The media industry's hostility towards tech stems from the shrinking of their share of the American pie as the network's influence grows [2] - The shift from state to network is exemplified by individuals moving from traditional media outlets like the NYT to platforms like Substack [2] Journalism & Media Criticism - Legacy media is defined as the non-consensual invasion of privacy for profit, with multi-billion dollar media corporations acting as dotcoms [4][5] - Journalists are often portrayed as con men who flatter individuals to gain information and then twist it to create negative stories [5] - The traditional media model is being challenged by individual creators who are building their own distribution channels to avoid distortion [11][12] - Blue journalism is a network of blues, and the blue journalists deny that Substack is journalism [97] Tech Industry Strategy & Future - Tech companies should focus on building their own distribution to avoid distortion by traditional media [11][12] - The industry needs to build internet-first media based on decentralized cryptographic truth to replace the paper record [34][39] - The future involves a ledger of record with cryptographically verifiable feeds and AI-generated articles, offering a stronger form of truth [37][39][44]
Health Tech Founders: The Future of Care Is Personalized, Proactive—and AI-Powered
a16z· 2025-07-31 16:37
AI Healthcare Industry Focus - Explores how AI is being used to reimagine healthcare and mental health [1] - Discusses building trust in AI consumer health products outside traditional systems [1] - Focuses on AI's role in supporting, not replacing, doctors and therapists [1] - Highlights the importance of human context in impactful AI experiences [1] Key Discussion Points - Founders share personal health journeys and insights from building in health tech [1] - Rethinking user experience in AI health products is crucial [1] - Engagement, retention, and product usage patterns are key considerations [1] - The conversation emphasizes augmentation of human capabilities, not replacement [1] Ethical Considerations - Addresses ethics, autonomy, and the human element in AI healthcare [1] - Notes that the content is for informational purposes only and not investment advice [1]
America's Energy Problem: The Grid That Built America Can’t Power Its Future
a16z· 2025-07-16 13:01
Grid Challenges and Opportunities - The US electrical grid is aging and brittle, with an aged-out workforce, leading to delivery cost problems [1] - The US grid effectively froze in the early 2000s due to manufacturing moving to Asia, leading to a loss of skills in building new power projects [1] - Interconnection for new projects can take a decade due to grid capacity issues and transformer technology limitations [1] - There's very little visibility into the grid, especially at the distribution level, complicating the integration of new projects and distributed energy resources [2] Energy Mix and Future Trends - The energy grid of the future will be more decentralized, with generation, transmission, and storage potentially happening in the same place [2] - Solar and batteries are becoming increasingly important due to their low cost and ability to be deployed quickly, with Texas doubling its solar capacity in approximately three years [3] - The industry needs all different types of energy, including base load dispatchable power like gas, nuclear, and geothermal [3][4] - The US needs to invest in battery technology and manufacturing to avoid reliance on foreign sources [3] Technology and Policy - AI can help facilitate more efficient electricity use, better grid monitoring, and streamlined regulatory and permitting processes [2] - The United States needs to move incredibly fast to hook up batteries, solar panels, and make it easier and cheaper to do so [3] - The US needs to get better at mega projects, requiring technology at every layer and phase of how these projects get built [1][7] - There is a need for a venture-scale software company around grid management and monitoring infrastructure, similar to Splunk or Palo Alto Networks for IT and OT [7][8] Nuclear Energy - Nuclear energy is now widely acknowledged as clean energy, but still faces political headwinds [6] - Streamlining the approval process for new reactor designs is crucial [6] - Small modular reactors (SMRs) and micro reactors offer flexibility and grid resilience, with potential applications in military and disaster relief [6] - The United States needs to get better at mega projects, requiring technology at every layer and phase of how these projects get built [7] National Security - A resilient, reliable, dispatchable electrical grid is critical to US national security [24] - There is no safety, national defense, or national security without a reliable electrical grid [1][25]
How AI Will Impact Emergency Response: The Tech That Could Soon Save Your Life w/ Michael Chime
a16z· 2025-06-27 16:01
Company Overview - Prepared is an AI emergency response platform transforming public safety, starting with 911 call centers [1] - The company originated as an idea in a Yale dorm room and has rapidly grown into a nationwide platform [1] - Prepared aims to augment emergency response through AI [1] AI in Emergency Services - Prepared is using AI to solve macro problems for 911 call centers [1] - The company integrates voice AI into sensitive environments [1] - AI agents in emergency services require a "human-in-the-loop" approach during crisis moments [1] Customer & Market - Customer reactions to using AI in 911 call centers have been positive [1] - Building trust with government agencies is crucial for adoption [1] - AI's future in government and public services is just beginning [1] Future Trajectory - Prepared is focused on scaling its operations [1] - The company has goals set for 2025 [1]
TikTok & AI Have Changed Education Forever - What it means for Teachers, Students & Parents
a16z· 2025-06-20 16:00
AI在教育领域的应用现状 - 教师是AI教育工具的主要使用者,他们利用AI来提高工作效率,尤其是在行政管理方面,如评分、反馈和课程设计[14][16] - K12教育领域对AI仍持谨慎态度,但约80%的学区已成立生成式AI团队,积极寻求和评估新技术[8] - 高等教育在AI应用方面领先,许多大学与OpenAI等公司合作,试点AI教育平台,并将其视为学生未来工作和生活必备工具[9] - 尽管AI在教育领域的应用迅速发展,但目前主要集中在辅助工具层面,如生成工作表和作业,尚未深入到核心教学环节[23][35] AI对学习效果的影响 - 评估AI在教育中效果的关键在于长期跟踪学生的学习成果,但目前AI主要在教育边缘,难以评估其独立影响[23][24] - 投资者关注用户留存率和参与度,每周使用天数是衡量产品好坏的指标,如果学生仅为完成作业而使用,参与度会下降[20][21] - Alpha School等私立学校通过全面应用AI,学生成绩显著提高,但其高成本和特殊性使其经验难以直接推广到公立学校[26][30] 未来发展趋势 - 未来一年,高等教育领域有望在AI应用方面取得显著进展,探讨大型模型公司与教育机构的合作模式[66] - 行业期待出现由AI驱动的、具有高度个性化的虚拟教师,能够根据学生的学习进度和风格进行实时调整[68][70] - 脑洞大开的短视频内容正在成为一种新的学习模式,通过优化内容和呈现方式,提高学习的趣味性和参与度[41][53] - 教材公司在AI教育的未来发展中扮演关键角色,他们需要积极创新,与AI公司合作,将AI技术融入现有内容,避免业务被蚕食[56][57]
How AI is Revolutionizing App Security - Battling Bots While Enabling AI agents
a16z· 2025-06-16 17:37
Bot Traffic Landscape - 50% of internet traffic is bot traffic, indicating a significant portion of online activity is automated [1][52] - AI-driven agents are poised to cause an explosion in automated traffic, necessitating a shift in how websites manage and filter traffic [1][53] - Simply blocking AI traffic is not the right approach; a nuanced understanding of the purpose, behavior, and origin of bots is crucial [1][53] Challenges in Bot Management - Traditional methods of blocking bots based on IP addresses or user agents are becoming increasingly imprecise and can lead to blocking legitimate traffic [6][7] - Distinguishing between good and bad bots is a key challenge, especially with AI bots acting on behalf of humans [4] - Legacy providers' network-level blocking is insufficient for modern applications, as it lacks application context [12][13] Granular Control and Application Context - Application context is crucial for making nuanced decisions about allowing or denying traffic, especially for e-commerce operations where blocking transactions can result in lost revenue [8][9] - Site owners need to understand what kind of automated traffic they want to allow and what they are getting in return [5] - Developers, site owners, and security teams need to make nuanced decisions to understand whether traffic should be allowed or not [9] Techniques for Bot Detection and Management - Building layers of protection, starting with robots.txt, managing IPs, and understanding traffic origins is essential [34] - Reputation databases around IP addresses, considering factors like country of origin and network, can aid in decision-making [34][35] - Fingerprinting techniques, such as J3 and J4 hashes, analyze session metrics to identify and block malicious clients [40][41][42][43] The Future of Bot Management and AI - AI is driving significant revenue to companies, and blocking AI traffic indiscriminately can harm business [14] - The industry is moving towards verified, well-behaved AI crawlers that follow rules, making it easier to detect bots with criminal intent [58][59] - Emerging technologies like Privacy Pass and Cloudflare's automated request fingerprinting aim to identify and authenticate automated clients [47][48]
What You Missed in AI This Week (Google, Apple, ChatGPT)
a16z· 2025-06-13 13:01
AI video completely taking over our social feeds in the span of a week, which is absolutely insane. V3 was sort of like the chat GBT moment for AI video. The next generation of entrepreneurs are going to be completely AI assisted.Like a world of possibilities has been opened up for AI storytelling, especially in video form. Yes, it's an exhausting time for AI creatives. It's great, but exhausting.[Music] I'm Justine. I'm Olivia and this is our very first edition of This Week in Consumer AI. So, we are both ...