All Segments
The State of Consumer Tech in the Age of AI
12 segments available
In this episode, a16z General Partner Erik Torenberg is joined by the a16z Consumer team—General Partner Anish Acharya and Partners Olivia Moore, Justine Moore, and Bryan Kim—for a conversation on the current state (and future) of consumer tech. They unpack why it feels like breakout consumer apps have slowed down, how AI is changing the game, and what might define the next era of products. Topics include: - The rise of AI-native consumer tools and companion apps - Why users are now spending $200+/month on AI products - The missing AI-powered social graph - Why speed and iteration may matter more than traditional moats - And what it means to build for a world where software touches everything From shifting business models to new behavior patterns, this is your pulse check on where we are—and where consumer is heading next. Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction to Consumer AI 00:28 The Evolution of Consumer Breakouts 03:18 The Shift in Consumer Spending 08:00 The Future of Social Networks with AI 13:00 Enterprise Adoption of AI 20:42 The Rise of Voice Technology 23:06 AI's Role in Enterprise Conversations 25:25 AI in Education and Personal Development 26:34 AI Companions: The New Norm 31:52 The Future of AI Companions 38:50 Speculating on New AI Platforms 42:07 The Social Norms of AI Integration Resources: Find Anish on X: https://x.com/illscience Find Olivia on X: https://x.com/omooretweets Find Justine on X: https://x.com/venturetwins Find Bryan on X: https://x.com/kirbyman01 Stay Updated: Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/ Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Segments Timeline
Introduction to Consumer AI
"The great thing about consumer is it's completely unpredictable and the best products emerge like out of nowhere. We're living in this early era of AI where velocity is the model. In the future, you'r..."
The Evolution of Consumer Breakouts
"Guys, thanks for coming on for a state of consumer podcast. It it seems like every few years there was a there was a breakout starting from Facebook Twitter Instagram Snap WhatsApp Tinder, Tik Tok. Ev..."
The Shift in Consumer Spending
"because you know Facebook's almost 20 20 years ago at this point like the companies that you mentioned Justine you know aside from TGBT and OpenAI like are they going to be around for 10 20 like what ..."
The Future of Social Networks with AI
"you're saying what we're still missing is connection from from this new paradigm and and people are still relying on sort of Instagram, Twitter some of the other sort of social networks of of the past..."
Enterprise Adoption of AI
"heard you guys say is that you wouldn't surprise that you guys as sort of realized was that enterprises are sometimes adopting these these products first before consumers which feels different from fr..."
The Rise of Voice Technology
"new. I I want to go deeper in on on voice as we talk about sort of new paradigms and and and form factors. We we got excited about voice pretty pretty early on or were the first frame that I that I sa..."
AI's Role in Enterprise Conversations
"mean, it feels like voice is the AI insertion point for the enterprise period. And I think the thing that everybody is missing right now is that the sort of mental model many folks have is that the lo..."
AI in Education and Personal Development
"mean, I think people learn in in different ways and like AI voice products play really well to that. Masterclass launched kind of an interesting beta where they take people who have already recorded c..."
AI Companions: The New Norm
"interesting to think about what are the what are the set of use cases for which we're going to want to have a human or someone we we think is a human uh you know sort of doing the activity versus wher..."
The Future of AI Companions
"closest friends who are some of the most talented people I know are working on a gay AI companion app which the 2015 version of myself would upon hearing that statement would have been like what? Um t..."
Speculating on New AI Platforms
"maybe let's speculate on new platforms or form factors that could be gamechanging. OpenAI just acquired Johnny Johnny Ives company. Um, you know, Brian, I've heard you talk a bit about glasses and why..."
The Social Norms of AI Integration
"glossed over, but young people at parties are recording their convers like Yes. in the future is everything is everything going to be recorded like you think that generation is already growing up with..."