Latest Interviews

Media and Trust: A Global Concern

Heng Wing Chan, Stephen Salyer, Gerard Baker, Warren Fernandez, Victor Mallet, Maria A. Ressa, Doug Mellinger, Paul Grunewald

Four global journalists analyze the collapse of traditional media trust, attributing the crisis to the weaponization of social media algorithms, the concentration of ad revenue within tech giants, and a lack of ideological diversity within newsrooms. The panel highlights specific regional threats, from state-backed disinformation campaigns in the Philippines and Hong Kong to the revenue model failures that undermine investigative reporting in Singapore. Participants conclude that restoring public confidence requires platform accountability, deeper community engagement, and a renewed commitment to holding power to account despite the current fragmented information landscape.

Investing for Immortality

Ben Clark, Elizabeth Gustilo, Drue Kataoka, Pearl Lam, Helen Lee Warren

A panel of industry leaders analyzed the surge in Asian wealth since 2014, which has elevated the region's collector base to surpass Western counterparts while driving a shift toward Western "blue chip" acquisitions and private museum expansion. The discussion highlighted a dual evolution in the ecosystem, where second-generation collectors prioritize provenance and direct patronage models alongside the integration of AI, blockchain, and virtual reality to redefine authentication and access. Ultimately, experts emphasized the necessity of balancing traditional institutional roles with digital innovation to ensure market resilience and the long-term "immortality" of artworks within a rapidly changing technological landscape.

Smarter Cities for a Smarter World

Jonathan Woetzel, Hugh Andrew, Nayef Khalid Al Khalifa, Robert Rosenstein, Lauren Sorkin

A recent McKinsey Global Institute analysis reveals that while most global cities currently operate at only 70% maturity regarding smart technology, successful implementation demands a shift from rigid zoning to outcome-based regulation and robust public-private partnerships. Key drivers for this evolution include treating digital infrastructure as a utility, prioritizing human capital through inclusive social policies, and restructuring real estate models to accommodate e-commerce and automated logistics. Ultimately, sustainable urban development relies on strong civic leadership defining long-term visions while ensuring equitable access and clear ROI metrics across diverse markets from North Asia to the Middle East.

A World in Transition: What Matters For Asia

Michael Klowden, Haslinda Amin, Heenam Choi, Ravi Menon, Ning Tang

The Milken Institute's fifth Asia Summit convened over 1,000 global leaders in Singapore to analyze the Asia-Pacific region's economic resilience amidst US-China trade tensions and technological disruption. Key speakers highlighted that while external financial tightening poses risks, Asian emerging markets remain structurally sound due to sounder macro fundamentals and a shifting middle class driving demand for healthcare and senior housing. The event concluded that the region's long-term growth trajectory depends on maintaining open trading systems, advancing FinTech regulation, and managing demographic transitions toward aging societies.

What will be the biggest stories of 2019? | Part Two

In 2019, global advancements will see augmented reality headsets deployed in major surgical centers like St. Mary's to enhance precision, while Japan launches the Rugby World Cup to stimulate tourism and enacts legislation to admit 345,000 foreign workers amidst demographic decline. Simultaneously, the United States faces heightened political friction as Democrats assume House control to subpoena President Trump, and the European Union navigates a contentious parliamentary election that threatens to deepen fragmentation between populist and established factions. These domestic and international shifts coincide with a renewed surge in space exploration, marked by private and national lunar missions aiming to utilize frozen resources and achieve greater demographic diversity in orbit.

a16z Podcast | Talent, Tech Trends, and Culture -- with Ben, Marc, and Tyler Cowen

Tyler Cowen, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz

Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz detail the founding history of their firm, Andreessen Horowitz, which challenges conventional venture capital wisdom by prioritizing long-term partnerships with extreme founders rather than professional management teams. The partners analyze emerging technological shifts, arguing that blockchain serves as a new trust-based computing platform while predicting a future where retail becomes experiential and wearables enable predictive healthcare. Additionally, they propose integrating Hollywood's emotional talent identification with Silicon Valley's systems thinking through their Cultural Leadership Fund, asserting that the next frontier of innovation lies in automating the selection and funding of high-stakes initiatives.

a16z Podcast | How the Internet Happened

Brian McCullough, Chris Dixon

Brian McCullough's *How the Internet Happened* traces the industry's evolution from the 1993 Netscape launch to the 2007 iPhone, analyzing pivotal shifts like the decentralization of the web and eBay's establishment of trust through reputation systems. The narrative highlights how early failures like Webvan and Napster were often victims of timing rather than flawed concepts, while Google's dominance stemmed from refining pay-per-click advertising against the prevailing "portal" model. McCullough concludes that the current stagnation in innovation results from a reliance on massive scale strategies, suggesting that genuine breakthroughs will likely emerge from the periphery where hobbyists operate on long-term horizons rather than within established corporate cycles.

a16z Podcast | The Infrastructure of Total Health

Bernard J. Tyson, Ben Horowitz

Kaiser Permanente distinguishes itself through a fully integrated, capitated model that serves 12.3 million members by prioritizing prevention and cost efficiency over volume-based revenue. Under the leadership of former CEO Bernard J. Tyson, the organization leverages longitudinal data and unified technology to shift the healthcare paradigm from reactive "sick care" toward proactive management of social determinants and behavioral health. By treating hospitals as expense centers and integrating mental health specialists into primary care, Kaiser aims to minimize lifetime costs while influencing national policy to address systemic gaps in elderly care and mental health infrastructure.

a16z Podcast | All About Stablecoins

Andy Milenius, Jesse Walden, Sonal Chokshi

Maker's DAI functions as a crypto-collateralized stablecoin that enables global supply chains and unbanked populations to access decentralized credit through a governance system managed by MKR token holders. Operating as a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, the protocol utilizes formal verification to ensure technical security while aligning incentives where borrower fees increase token scarcity or new issuance covers collateral deficits. By bridging traditional assets like real estate with blockchain infrastructure, the ecosystem aims to eliminate opacity in credit systems and facilitate transparent, non-jurisdictional transnational finance.

a16z Podcast | Building Crypto, from Vision to Reality

Brian Armstrong, Chris Dixon, Sonal Chokshi

Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong outlines a roadmap for transforming cryptocurrency from a speculative asset class into a functional utility phase by addressing critical infrastructure gaps in scalability, wallet usability, and fiat on-ramps. The industry is leveraging stablecoins and decentralized autonomous organizations like MakerDAO to mitigate volatility and enable programmable money, while predicting that an open financial system serving one billion users could emerge within five years. Concurrently, the ecosystem is fostering combinatorial innovation through reusable protocols and NFTs, aiming to displace traditional ad-based revenue models with transaction-based economies supported by regulated institutional infrastructure.

a16z Podcast | On Marrying Entertainment and Technology

Jeffrey Katzenberg, Meg Whitman, Marc Andreessen

Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman founded Quibi with a $1 billion seed round to launch a mobile-exclusive streaming platform targeting the 25–35 demographic with high-production, short-form content. The venture leverages their contrasting backgrounds in Hollywood storytelling and technology executive leadership to secure investments from ten major studios and engineer specialized playback features for mobile devices. Operating on a dual monetization model of subscription and advertising, the platform aims to disrupt the market by offering premium narrative quality comparable to feature films rather than relying on user-generated content.

a16z Podcast | The IQ and EQ of Robots

Boris Sofman, Dave Touretzky, Hanne Tidnam, Hannah

Anki is advancing robotics through a strategy that leverages smartphone supply chains to produce affordable, emotionally engaging companion robots like Vector and Cosmo, bypassing the high-cost stagnation that plagued previous attempts. By integrating advanced sensors, Pixar-caliber animation, and proactive software interactions, these devices achieve significantly higher user engagement than traditional voice assistants while serving as accessible educational tools for programming. The company aims to evolve from entertainment-focused hardware into foundational platforms for future home service robots, with future roadmaps targeting the reduction of critical sensor costs to enable complex 3D environmental mapping within five years.

a16z Podcast | Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots

Adrienne Mayor, Hanne Tidnam, Hannah

Historian Adrienne Mayer posits that ancient myths and historical accounts of automatons, such as the bronze guardian Talos and Hephaestus's golden servants, functioned as early explorations of artificial intelligence and biotechnology. She traces the evolution of these concepts from mythological narratives involving artificial life to tangible engineering feats like Archytas's steam-powered dove and Ptolemy II's self-moving parade statues, illustrating a consistent ancient fascination with self-moving devices. Mayer concludes by drawing direct parallels between these antiquated stories of technological control and unintended consequences and modern debates regarding AI governance, emphasizing the enduring human struggle to balance foresight with the risks of automation.

a16z Podcast | M&A and Innovation, Inside Out

Stephanie Cohen, Martin Casado

Stephanie Cohen leads a strategic restructuring at Goldman Sachs that integrates M&A and organic growth under a unified framework, utilizing hybrid models like the Marcus brand and rigorous red-team evaluations to mitigate decision bias. Parallel to these acquisition efforts, the firm launched its "Accelerate" internal incubator to nurture employee innovations while protecting them from bureaucratic momentum through dedicated R&D pockets. To further support this evolution, a $500 million investment commitment targets women-founded businesses, and the organization is shifting its five-year planning horizon toward a culture that celebrates iterative learning and calculated risk-taking over traditional failure aversion.

a16z Podcast | Automation + Work, Human + Machine

Prasad Akella, Paul Daugherty, Frank Chen, Hannah

The presentation outlines the shift from rigid industrial automation to a third-generation model of dynamic, human-centric work driven by collaborative robots and adaptive AI. This evolution transforms labor markets by eliminating only a minority of roles while significantly altering 30 to 40% of jobs, creating new categories for behavioral trainers and augmented workers who combine human adaptability with robotic precision. Successful organizations navigate these changes by adopting MELDS core habits, prioritizing lifelong learning, and focusing on ethical governance to manage risks like algorithmic bias and explainability gaps.