a16z founder: Small AI startups also have competitive advantages

Recently, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the two founders of the venture capital institution a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), discussed the current status of AI and how AI startups are doing in a talk show Topics such as competition with technology giants and AI investment were discussed in depth, and the conversation covered many key issues in the AI ​​industry.

Marc is a well-known American entrepreneur, investor and software engineer. He is the co-author of Mosaic, the first widely used Web browser with a graphical user interface. , co-founder of Netscape and founder of top risk agency a16z, who has invested in Meta and Twitter. Ben is a technology entrepreneur and investor, former co-founder of enterprise software company Opsware, founder of a16z, and author of "Startup Hard."

A16z, a venture capital firm, was founded in 2009. It has invested in many well-known Internet companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Github, Instagram, Airbnb, etc. It has become a company with Sequoia and Benchmark. Capital and other top venture capital institutions in Silicon Valley.

Marc and Ben have unique views on investment in the technology field. In this talk show, the two shared their judgment on future trends in this field. Audiences can quickly understand the current status of the industry and development opportunities through their perspectives.

Highlight: What are the core points of the conversation between Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz?

1. Marc and Ben discussed in depth how AI startups can compete with industry giants in terms of resources and scale. Ben believes that although large companies have significant advantages in computing power and data resources, startups can gain market advantages by focusing on market segments, adopting innovative business models and technologies, and developing unique solutions.

2. It is usually unrealistic for startups to reach the standards of existing AI within two years. Because AI technology is developing very fast, the investment and advantages of large companies in this field are difficult to be surpassed by startups in the short term. Founders should think about how they can leverage current base models, if those models were to perform 10x better, how startups should adapt their strategies to take advantage of this advancement.

3. Faced with the paradoxical phenomenon of "the surge in financing costs for start-up companies, and the cost gradually approaching zero", the impact of AI on technology investment, Ben believes that not building a foundational model might make the company's operations more efficient and accelerate profitability. Jevons Paradox reminds us that technological progress does not always lead to lower costs, but can sometimes lead to an increase in overall costs due to increased demand.

4. Recently, as social platforms such as Reddit sell content data to AI technology companies, whether proprietary data has become the most critical issue for the company Competitive advantage leads to discussion. Ben believes that while many companies consider the proprietary data they own to be a competitive advantage,in reality, the value of a single company’s proprietary data may be overestimated due to the vast amounts of data available on the Internet. In addition, there is currently no large-scale data trading market, which also reflects that proprietary data may not be as valuable as people think.

5.Ben and Marc agree that we are still in the early stages of the development of AI technology. In particular, the potential of large language models is mentioned, exploring how these models might achieve continuous evolution and optimization in the future by self-learning and leveraging AI-generated data.

6. Ben and Marc emphasized the key role of venture capital in promoting technological innovation and enterprise development. They note that acceptance of trying and failing is an important component of innovation and long-term success.

7. In addition, Ben and Marc also discussed the potential of AI in specific industries such as health insurance, especially in terms of genetic data and personalized medicine. They discussed how AI can improve service efficiency and accuracy in this area, while also pointing out the legal and ethical challenges posed by technological advancements.

The following is the full text of the conversation between Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, which has been optimized and organized without changing the original meaning:

01 How can AI startups compete with the giants?

Marc: How do AI startups compete with larger players?

Ben: If a startup focuses on a distinctive area, or leverages a specific data platform to apply the underlying model in a unique way , they can compete with large enterprises. For example, Databricks combines its leading data platform to use underlying models in specific ways to provide enterprises with models that deeply understand the nuances of their data models. This focus will not be affected even if other companies' model performance greatly improves. Influence.

Marc: As we look forward to upcoming AI capabilities, what should founders focus on building?

Ben: Founders should think about how to leverage the current basic models. If the performance of these models is improved by 10 times, startups How companies should adapt their strategies to take advantage of this advancement. Improving model performance is a positive development if startups can gain a significant advantage as a result.

Marc: How can small AI startups compete with established players who have huge computing and data scale advantages?

Ben: Small AI startups should avoid competing head-on with well-resourced incumbents. Instead they should focus on developing differentiated products or services, leveraging specific domain knowledge or unique data sets to build solutions. This way, startups can find their footing in the market even if established players have vast computing and data resources.

02 Challenges and opportunities of AI surpassing human intelligence

Marc: Will big AI models get better in the future?

Ben:I believe these models will get better and better. Although there are some limitations, such as AI knowing a lot but not being able to express it all, the quality of their output and their ability to be based on facts are expected to improve significantly.

Marc:Do we need a qualitative leap from existing artificial intelligence to more advanced general artificial intelligence? change?

Ben: If we have reached the limits of artificial special intelligence, then in some aspects AI may not Achieving a tenfold improvement...

Can artificial intelligence surpass the limits of human intelligence? What challenges will artificial intelligence face in its future development? How do AI startups identify value-based business models? How do you view the investment paradox in the AI ​​era? ...

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