Andreessen Horowitz partner Martin Casado understands AI technology in a way that most of us don't. Before joining a16z, he sold his networking infrastructure company, Nicira, to VMware for $1.26 billion. He now runs his firm's $1.25 billion infrastructure practice and has invested in AI startups, including World Labs, Cursor, Ideogram, and Braintrust.
So when he says that regulators are focusing on the wrong things when it comes to AI policies, he knows what he's talking about. He says that AI regulations were not written or supported by people who understand AI tech best, including academics and the companies building AI products. He's concerned that bills, like California's SB 1047, pander to people's fears about AI, rather than look at what the tech is actually doing now.
“Transformative technologies and regulation has been this ongoing discourse for decades, right? So the thing with all the AI discourse is it seems to have kind of come out of nowhere,” he told the crowd at Disrupt 2024. “They’re kind of trying to conjure net-new regulations without drawing from those lessons.”
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