Big Ideas, 2025

The real commercial opportunity lies in developing verticalized products that use Earth observation as just one tool among many to address industry-specific needs.

rank 6a16z-big-ideas-2025-006

Once we’ve collected billions or trillions of tokens of robot data, however, what comes next?

rank 7a16z-big-ideas-2025-007

By enabling people to monitor their health proactively, these tech options refocus the healthcare model on prevention, early detection, and keeping healthy patients healthy for longer.

rank 10a16z-big-ideas-2025-010

In the coming year, exciting new use cases will be unlocked: everything from generated video companions to AI bandmates.

rank 13a16z-big-ideas-2025-013

With emerging consumer products tailored to this purpose, in the year ahead I predict more people will begin using AI as an infinite memory bank to guide their decision-making, interactions, and personal growth.

rank 15a16z-big-ideas-2025-015

I’m excited to see similar controls come to knowledge work.

rank 16a16z-big-ideas-2025-016

I predict this shift will spawn a new class of analytical tools that seamlessly merge numbers with real-time external context.

rank 17a16z-big-ideas-2025-017

As AIs make the transition from NPCs (non-playing characters) to being the main characters, they will begin to act as agents.

rank 18a16z-big-ideas-2025-018

But the key point here is decentralization: Running on a permissionless set of nodes, and coordinated by a consensus protocol, the chatbot could even become the first truly autonomous billion-dollar entity.

rank 19a16z-big-ideas-2025-019

That’s why the property of privacy-preserving “uniqueness” is the next big idea in building a web we can trust.

rank 20a16z-big-ideas-2025-020

Rather, prediction markets set the stage for more distributed technology-based information aggregation mechanisms — which can be used in applications ranging from community governance and sensor networks to finance and much more.

rank 21a16z-big-ideas-2025-021

In the U.S. — given that the SEC is set to require clearing treasuries through legacy, burdensome, and costly infrastructure next year — expect more conversations around how blockchains could increase transparency, efficiency, and participation in bonds trading.

rank 23a16z-big-ideas-2025-023

We could finally use blockchains to carry out secure, private voting for elections, beginning with low-stakes pilots to limit cybersecurity and auditing concerns.

rank 25a16z-big-ideas-2025-025

As costs decrease due to maturing infrastructure in the crypto industry and other emerging technologies, the practice of tokenizing assets will spread widely across sectors.

rank 31a16z-big-ideas-2025-031

Imagine, instead, that those lengthy documents — including text, images, and case precedents — could be used to train regulation-specific LLMs.

rank 32a16z-big-ideas-2025-032

I predict this sort of cord-cutting — ripping out legacy systems of record in favor of more dynamic upgrades — will be replicated many times over.

rank 33a16z-big-ideas-2025-033

The next frontier will be AI that not only captures such data for the worker, but then suggests a sequence of actions to take.

rank 35a16z-big-ideas-2025-035

While some predict this shift will usher in an era of conventional private equity, where large firms buy and transform assets, I see greater potential in AI-powered, vertical-specific service startups.

rank 36a16z-big-ideas-2025-036

I believe we’re on the precipice of seeing a next generation Pixar leverage AI-native storytelling formats that blur the lines between film and video games.

rank 39a16z-big-ideas-2025-039

I believe the next generation of companions will become much more engaging and lifelike.

rank 40a16z-big-ideas-2025-040

For aspiring creators, content that used to require cameras, audio equipment, and green screens can now be replicated with AI software.

rank 42a16z-big-ideas-2025-042

New gen AI-powered sales tech will likely automate much of sales reps’ administrative work, making sales organizations significantly more efficient and productive.

rank 44a16z-big-ideas-2025-044

Over the next five to 10 years, I believe that a world-class Hypercenter will need to develop about three to six gigawatts of installed capacity to keep a seat at the table of frontier AI.

rank 46a16z-big-ideas-2025-046

In the coming year, I expect smaller, on-device AI models to dominate in terms of volume and usage.

rank 47a16z-big-ideas-2025-047

However, state-of-the-art models are nevertheless showing improved performance on “reasoning” tasks like math, physics, and coding.

rank 48a16z-big-ideas-2025-048

I see AI coming to every application and every device.

rank 49a16z-big-ideas-2025-049

In 2025, “big is back” in the biopharma world, as even early-stage biotech startups begin to go after big, common diseases again.

rank 9a16z-big-ideas-2025-009

We believe 2025 will see specialist AI models serving as “super staffing” platforms in the high stakes environment of healthcare.

rank 11a16z-big-ideas-2025-011

Looking to 2025, startups increasingly need an earned secret: a unique insight (head start) around an emerging target; a differentiated approach to hitting a hot one.

rank 12a16z-big-ideas-2025-012

In 2025, I expect AI-generated video to become further segmented by use case, giving creators more control and better results.

rank 14a16z-big-ideas-2025-014

While we’re seeing some enterprise interest in stablecoins (and early adoption in peer-to-peer payments), I expect to see a bigger experimentation wave in 2025.

rank 22a16z-big-ideas-2025-022

With the U.S. poised to foster and accelerate progress for its crypto ecosystem in 2025, I expect the DUNA will become a standard for U.S. projects.

rank 24a16z-big-ideas-2025-024

That’s why I expect more teams to leverage the contributions of others, reusing more off-the-shelf blockchain infrastructure components in 2025 — from consensus protocols and existing staked capital to proof systems.

rank 26a16z-big-ideas-2025-026

In 2025, more crypto product designers will begin with the end-user experience they want, and then choose the appropriate infrastructure from there.

rank 27a16z-big-ideas-2025-027

That’s why I think our industry will adopt this ethos in 2025: “hide the wires”.

rank 28a16z-big-ideas-2025-028

But we may see more of this porting happening in 2025.

rank 29a16z-big-ideas-2025-029

In 2025, crypto should further develop as a computing movement.

rank 30a16z-big-ideas-2025-030

In 2024, many startups pursued “messy inbox problems” as a wedge to apply LLMs to judgment-intensive tasks. 2025 will be the year of AI companies turning differentiation into lasting defensibility.

rank 34a16z-big-ideas-2025-034

I believe 2025 will be the year that AI-native UI and UX paradigms will be established for the next generation of SaaS companies.

rank 37a16z-big-ideas-2025-037

I predict 2025 will be the year of AI copilots — eventually, every white-collar role will have one, passing off the most painful parts of their jobs, and freeing up workers to focus on more creative or strategic tasks.

rank 38a16z-big-ideas-2025-038

Whether it’s training autonomous systems in virtual environments, helping consumers shop with 3D visuals, or scaling tomorrow’s workforce via simulations, I think game tech will infuse every sector in 2025.

rank 41a16z-big-ideas-2025-041

The search monopoly ends in 2025.

rank 43a16z-big-ideas-2025-043

I predict 2025 will be the year of the AI-native application layer.

rank 45a16z-big-ideas-2025-045