a16z Podcast

The Race for AI—Search, National Infrastructure, & On-Device AI

Anjney Midha, Jennifer Li, and Alex Immerman

Posted December 25, 2024

The AI race is on, and 2025 could be its most transformative year yet.

In this episode, a16z General Partners Anjney Midha and Jennifer Li, and Partner Alex Immerman dive into the trends reshaping AI and its impact on search, infrastructure, and devices.

We explore:

  • How AI-native tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are challenging Google’s search dominance.
  • The rise of infrastructure independence as governments prioritize compute, energy, and data.
  • The future of smaller, on-device AI models driving privacy, performance, and new consumer applications.

With insights from a16z’s Growth and Infrastructure teams, this episode unpacks the forces driving AI innovation—and the opportunities founders and nations could seize to lead in the next wave of technology.

Stay tuned for more in this four-part series, and explore the full 50 Big Ideas for 2025.

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More About This Podcast

The a16z Podcast discusses the most important ideas within technology with the people building it. Each episode aims to put listeners ahead of the curve, covering topics like AI, energy, genomics, space, and more.

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