Big Ideas, 2024

A network of autonomous systems collaborating, communicating, and coordinating would unlock a new paradigm in defense.

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I believe we’ll see more companies extend the scale of their software advantages by making acquisitions and implementing their software advantage post-acquisition.

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A new age of maritime exploration is changing that, and founders are leading the way.

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We look forward to seeing builders innovating at the intersection of policy, biopharmaceutical manufacturing, financing, and clinical operations so we have viable means to bring these “miracle drugs” to market without bankrupting or breaking the system.

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Similarly, potentially curative programmable medicines like gene therapy can reuse components, like the delivery vehicles used to target specific cells, while swapping out the genetic cargo.

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As state-of-the-art generative AI technologies drive the marginal cost of creation to near-zero, we’ll see entirely new consumer behaviors emerge.

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There is immense potential for more interactive tools that act as a creative copilot and enable a true conversation with AI, far beyond the basic inpainting/outpainting functionality we see today.

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However, thanks to the “living laboratory” of web3 over the past few years, more best practices for decentralization have been emerging.

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But now, developers are actively testing and deploying new tools that could reset frontend UX (user experience) for crypto in the year ahead.

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But the biggest advantage of an open-source, modular tech stack is that it unlocks permissionless innovation; allows participants to specialize; and incentivizes more competition.

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Decentralized, open-source crypto networks will democratize (vs. concentrate) AI innovation, ultimately making it safer for consumers.

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The dynamics of how resulting gaming economies are managed will continue to shift as we see P2E evolve beyond its initial growing pains.

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When lore, terrain, narrative, and logic are all procedurally generated — in other words, when AI becomes the game maker — we’re going to want to know that the game maker was credibly neutral.

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With increased adoption of formal methods-inspired tooling among developers and security specialists, we can expect the next wave of smart contract protocols to be more robust and less prone to costly hacks.

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Each of these strategies has had limits in terms of cost or network scalability, but now, SNARKs (Succinct Non-interactive ARguments of Knowledge) are becoming more usable.

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My hope is that we’ll see fintech companies step up and provide needed tools and technology to help this ecosystem of banks compete with larger institutions, manage balance sheet risks effectively, and better serve their clients.

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The professional services work of financial services — the accountant, the tax adviser, the wealth manager, the investment banker — will change.

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As automated customer service becomes increasingly prevalent and consumers grow accustomed to these prompt interactions, businesses will be compelled to digitize their workflows.

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There are many new technologies on the cusp — AI, VR/AR, web3 — and embracing video games will be a key aspect of their success.

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If 2023 was the year of AI companions we text with, next year those relationships will come to life through 3D avatars we talk to in real-time, verbally.

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There’s been a lot of commentary recently on Disney getting back into video games, but I believe the next Disney will be a video game company.

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Combined, these two factors are likely to unleash millions of new creators next year.

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The Valheim zeal just might catalyze the creation of a new, billion-dollar IP that resonates with the maturing preferences of the “Minecraft Generation.”

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In the coming year, AI will advance beyond text-based chat to multimodal models.

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Though we’ve seen some sales tech companies experiment with generative AI around the edges, the next generation of sales tech will use generative AI to tackle this core data problem head-on.

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As technology evolves, it will enhance our creative and problem-solving abilities.

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