Nick Bostrom: How Should We Navigate Superintelligence?

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1. 

   E1228 · 14 Oct 2026 · 1 hrNew

   Can Open Models Keep Up With the AI Frontier? | Nathan Lambert

   a16z Partner Lisha Li sits down with AI researcher and Trillium founder Nathan Lambert to ask how durable the gap really is between frontier AI labs and open models. Nathan argues that OpenAI and Anthropic have structural advantages in compute, capital, and the ability to pioneer new training paradigms, but open-model labs, particularly in China, have proven remarkably capable of following close behind. They unpack how much of that comes from distillation versus technical talent, why compute remains a major constraint, and how data, RL environments, and post-training are increasingly shaping…

2. 

   E1227 · 13 Oct 2026 · 42 minNew

   Can AI Break Cryptography? What the Experts Actually Think

   Could AI break the cryptography protecting everything from crypto wallets and banking to private messages? Recent advances in AI-driven mathematical research have sparked new warnings about the security of today's encryption systems, but how much of the concern is supported by evidence? a16z crypto's Liz Harkavy is joined by Stanford cryptographer Dan Boneh, a16z crypto General Partner Eddy Lazzarin, and Research Partner Justin Thaler to separate what we know from what remains speculation. They explain why modern cryptography relies on mathematical assumptions, what OpenAI's recent results…

3. 

   E1226 · 12 Oct 2026 · 33 minNew

   The Race to Recursive Self-Improving AI

   a16z General Partner Martin Casado sits down with MakerMaker.AI co-founders Dhaval Adjodah and Owen He to unpack recursive self-improvement, or RSI, and separate the increasingly popular term from what it would actually mean for an AI system to improve itself. Dhaval and Owen distinguish true RSI from simply using AI to automate pieces of AI development. Their goal is a closed loop where the system being improved is also doing the improving, across components including models, harnesses, and eventually more of the AI stack. They explain why closing that loop still doesn’t guarantee runaway…

4. 

   E1224 · 10 Oct 2026 · 52 min

   What Makes a Great Entrepreneur? | Ben Horowitz on Vintage x Vintage

   a16z co-founder and General Partner Ben Horowitz joins James Norman on the inaugural episode of Vintage x Vintage for a conversation spanning entrepreneurship, investing, hip-hop, and what changes when AI makes building dramatically easier. Ben reflects on going from Netscape to becoming a first-time CEO, why every founder eventually hits a “we’re fucked, it’s over” moment, and what he learned from building a16z around the needs of entrepreneurs. He explains why great investors should look for world-class strengths rather than an absence of weaknesses, and why expanding the ways we recognize…

5. 

   E1223 · 9 Oct 2026 · 54 min

   Chips, Memory, and Power | Pat Gelsinger

   a16z's Raghu Raghuram and Guido Appenzeller sit down with Playground Global General Partner and former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger to discuss the next wave of semiconductor innovation and the physical constraints shaping the AI buildout. Drawing on his experience designing Intel's 386 and 486 processors, Pat explains how AI could transform chip design, but also why faster design alone won't solve the industry's biggest problems. They examine the bottlenecks in manufacturing, memory bandwidth, advanced packaging, and power, and why today's explosion of specialized AI chips may eventually…

6. 

   E1222 · 8 Oct 2026 · 56 min

   Building the Cloud for an Agentic World | AWS CEO Matt Garman

   a16z’s Raghu Raghuram sits down with AWS CEO Matt Garman to discuss how AI is reshaping the cloud, from the needs of AI-native startups to infrastructure increasingly designed for agents. Matt explains how AWS is adapting as agents write code and manage infrastructure, why it’s reserving scarce GPU capacity for startups, and where custom chips like Trainium and Graviton fit into the AI stack. They also discuss Amazon's $220 billion capital investment, the shifting bottlenecks in the infrastructure buildout, what enterprises need to trust autonomous agents, and how AWS's own teams are…

7. 

   E1221 · 7 Oct 2026 · 41 min

   How Valon Rebuilt a $13 Trillion Industry From Scratch

   a16z General Partner Angela Strange sits down with Valon’s Andrew Wang and Linda Du to unpack what it takes to rebuild the infrastructure underneath a $13 trillion mortgage market that still relies heavily on systems designed before the internet. Linda and Andrew explain why Valon chose the hardest path: becoming a regulated mortgage servicer, translating decades of federal and state regulation into software, and proving the platform on its own loans before selling it to the industry. That foundation made Valon roughly three times as efficient as traditional servicing and created the system…

8. 

   E1220 · 6 Oct 2026 · 49 min

   Building Defense for the Agentic Era: Kevin Mandia

   a16z General Partner David George sits down with Armadin founder and CEO Kevin Mandia to discuss what happens to cybersecurity when attackers can operate at machine speed. After 30 years in security and building Mandiant, Kevin says AI convinced him to get back on the field. He explains how AI changes the economics of cyberattacks, allowing attackers to probe thousands of paths simultaneously, and why that means defense will ultimately need to become autonomous too. They also unpack Armadin’s approach: continuously attacking customers’ systems with AI to find exploitable vulnerabilities…