Marc Andreessen has called his shot before. In 2011, the billionaire venture capitalist penned a blog post titled “Why Software Is Eating the World,” which helped usher in a digital-first era at a time when many companies were still skeptical of its importance.
In June, Andreessen made another bold proclamation with a sequel post of sorts: “Why AI Will Save the World.” Artificial intelligence, Andreessen wrote, could be “a way to make everything we care about better.”
Unsurprisingly, Andreessen is selling a vision of the future in which he is heavily invested. His VC fund, Andreessen Horowitz, backed 18 AI startups in 2022 and at least 10 more in 2023, according to The Information. His bets, which tally in the hundreds of millions of dollars, have included massively successful companies like OpenAI and Character.AI as well as nascent startups. As Andreessen places these early bets, he has also used his prominence to stump against regulation that might constrict these fledgling AI companies.
Of course, Andreessen has also been wrong in the past. Andreessen Horowitz was one of the main drivers of a crypto bubble that popped last year. Bitcoin hasn’t replaced cash, and Coinbase, a crypto exchange that Andreessen has heavily invested in, hasn’t replaced banking—or at least, not yet.
None of this has slowed Andreessen in his quest to impose his tech-forward vision upon the world. If AI continues to race forward, be it toward utopia or doom, the result will be in part due to Andreessen’s unflagging conviction and deep pockets.