Andreessen Horowitz Reveals 2024 Big Ideas List with Focus on Crypto, AI, and Gaming

According to Blockworks, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has released its 'big ideas' list for 2024, with a focus on crypto, artificial intelligence (AI), gaming, and digital security. The list, which includes insights from the firm's crypto arm, a16z crypto, shows a shift from last year's emphasis on 'zero knowledge' technology. General partner Ali Yahya and a group of contributors discussed the potential for crypto to democratize AI innovation. They argued that decentralized markets could allow anyone to contribute and be compensated for working on AI models, moving the training of these powerful tools beyond the control of a few tech giants. Investing partner Carra Wu also wrote about AI, suggesting that the rise of AI-generated video games will create a need for guarantees that game models are uncorrupted and neutral. Wu believes that crypto can offer such guarantees. General partner Ariana Simpson discussed the evolution of 'play to earn' games into 'play-and-earn' experiences, where users can play crypto-enabled games without financialization overshadowing the gameplay. In terms of security, chief technology officer Eddy Lazzarin highlighted the potential for cryptographically-generated 'passkeys' to make website and app sign-ins more secure. Research engineering partner Daniel Reynaud added that crypto projects are making formal verification, the use of mathematical models to check a program's security, more accessible for smart contract developers. General counsel Miles Jennings referenced his recent essay on how Machiavellian principles can improve decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Andreessen Horowitz has invested in several crypto projects, including Yuga Labs, Solana, and Uniswap. However, the firm's enthusiasm for crypto investing appears to have waned this year, with its thirty largest crypto-related fundraises all occurring before 2023, according to funding aggregator CryptoRank.