Replay 2025: David Sacks on AI, Crypto, and America's Technology Future
Episode publishedPodcast: The a16z ShowThe a16z Show
Transcript preview
Preview only
The Europeans, I mean, they have a really different mindset for all this stuff. When when they talk about AI leadership, what they mean is that they're taking the lead in defining the regulations. You know, they get together in Brussels and figure out what all the rules should be, and that's what they call leadership.
It's almost like a game show or something. They do everything they can to strangle them in their crib. And then if they if they make it if they make it through, like, a decade of abuse in small companies, then they're gonna give the money to grow.
Ron Rigging a headline about this, which is if it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it. Yeah. The Europeans are definitely at the subsidized stage.
The biggest questions surrounding AI aren't just technical anymore. They're increasingly about policy, infrastructure, regulation, and America's ability to stay ahead in a rapidly changing technology landscape. In this conversation, David Sacks joins Mark Endresen, Ben Horowitz, and me to discuss AI, crypto, open source models, energy, regulation, and the global competition to build the next generation of technology. They explore what it means to win the AI race, why permissionless innovation matters, and how today's policy decisions could shape the future of both AI and crypto for years to co
David, welcome to the a six and z podcast. Thanks for joining.
Yeah. Good to be here. So, David,
you're the AI and crypto czar. Why don't you first talk about why it makes sense to have those as a portfolio? What do they have to do with each other? And then I'll have you lay out what the Trump plan on those two categories and how we're doing.
Well, there are two technologies that I guess are relatively new, and so there's a lot of fear of them. And I think people don't actually know that much about them. They don't really know what to make of them. I think that from a policy standpoint, and we can talk about the similarities and differences, the approaches are a little different. I think with crypto, the main thing that's needed is regulatory certainty. All the entrepreneurs I've talked to over the years, they all say the same thing, which is just tell us what the rules are. We're happy to comply, but Washington won't tell us what
So, David, know, we're gonna talk a lot about AI today. But just on crypto, I've had this interesting experience this year kind of after the election. Kind of people adjusted to the change of government, and I've had this discussion with a number of people who, let's say, in politics who were previously anti crypto who have been trying to figure out how to kinda get to a more sensible position. And then also actually people in the financial services industry who kinda followed it from a distance or maybe participated in the the various debunking things without really understanding what was hap
Keep exploring with a free account.
A free account preserves the short preview. Upgrade to Pro for the full transcript and episode chat.