AI + a16z

Matt Knight, OpenAI's VP of Security Products and Research, shares his insights on Aardvark, an AI agent revolutionizing security by discovering vulnerabilities like a human. He discusses the evolution from GPT-3's limitations to GPT-4's breakthroughs in log analysis and cybercrime chat decoding. Aardvark's ability to automate threat modeling, validate exploits, and generate patches promises to ease the cybersecurity labor shortage and empower open source maintainers. Knight emphasizes AI's role in augmenting human analysts, not replacing them.

Barry McCardel, Co-founder and CEO of Hex, shares insights on how AI is transforming data analysis. He reveals the limitations of traditional dashboards and advocates for democratizing data access through conversational interfaces like Threads. Barry discusses how AI can lower barriers for users to explore data and anticipates insights proactively. He emphasizes the importance of context in analytics and describes Hex’s approach to integrating AI into every aspect of their product development, moving away from standalone AI teams.

Ian Webster, Founder and CEO of PromptFoo, shares insights from his experience as a former Discord engineer focused on AI agent security. He discusses how the 'lethal trifecta'—untrusted input, sensitive data, and exfiltration—leads to security incidents. Ian highlights the innovative approach of automating red-teaming with thousands of adversarial conversations to expose vulnerabilities. He also recounts lessons learned from building agents at Discord, emphasizing the importance of integrating security into the development process.

Matt Biilmann, Founder and CEO of Netlify, reveals a stunning trend: 16,000 daily signups, mostly from non-developers creating apps with AI tools like ChatGPT. He discusses the concept of Agent Experience (AX) and how it's reshaping development tools for a broader audience. With 25% of users using AI for debugging instead of traditional methods, Biilmann predicts coding will become as common as writing. He also highlights CEOs using AI to submit pull requests, marking a new era where software development is accessible to everyone.

Sourcegraph's CTO just revealed why 90% of his code now comes from agents—and why the Chinese models powering America's AI future should terrify Washington. While Silicon Valley obsesses over AGI apocalypse scenarios, Beyang Liu's team discovered something darker: every competitive open-source coding model they tested traces back to Chinese labs, and US companies have gone silent after releasing Llama 3. The regulatory fear that killed American open-source development isn't hypothetical anymore—it's already handed the infrastructure layer of the AI revolution to Beijing, one fine-tuned model at a time. Resources:Follow Beyang Liu on X: https://x.com/beyangFollow Martin Casado on X: https://x.com/martin_casadoFollow Guido Appenzeller on X: https://x.com/appenz Stay Updated:If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends!Find a16z on X: https://x.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zListen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYXListen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenbergPlease note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures. Check out everything a16z is doing with artificial intelligence here, including articles, projects, and more podcasts. Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ryo Lu, Head of Design at Cursor and ex-designer at Notion and Asana, dives into the transformative role of AI in design and engineering. He discusses Cursor's innovative tools that let designers quickly prototype code. Ryo challenges traditional notions of 'taste' in design and advocates for a unified approach that breaks down silos between teams. He also shares insights on making coding accessible for non-engineers and reimagining design as a conceptual architecture, drawing inspiration from classic interfaces and nature.

Omar Khattab, an Assistant Professor at MIT and creator of DSPy, discusses the evolution of AI and the need for programmable intelligence over AGI. He explains how his work aims to bridge the gap between human intent and AI capabilities, emphasizing that a programming language for intent could transform AI from unpredictable models into reliable systems. Omar introduces concepts like DSPy's signature abstraction and the importance of separating intent from models, which could revolutionize how we build and interact with AI.

Dylan Ayrey, Cofounder and CEO of Truffle Security, shares insights on the escalating threat of leaked secrets in the world of AI. He discusses how the cloud has changed the landscape of secret vulnerabilities and the troubling trend of monetization by attackers. Dylan explains the intricate relationship between AI agents and secrets, detailing OAuth flows and how these agents interact with services. He also emphasizes the need for better secret management and the challenges developers face with current solutions, urging a more user-centric design.

Ovais Tariq, Cofounder and CEO of Tigris Data, shares his expertise on the challenges of building independent storage solutions, drawing from his experience at Uber. He discusses why AI workloads require specialized storage and how Tigris employs innovative strategies for global data access. Ovais also emphasizes the importance of durability and consistency in storage, while highlighting Tigris’s focus on improving developer experience and eliminating cloud egress fees. The conversation unveils the future of cloud, favoring specialized storage and compute providers.

Marty Kausas and Advith Chelikani, co-founders of Pylon, share their journey transforming B2B customer support. They discuss their scrappy culture, living together, and the media's portrayal of their work ethic. The duo explains how they set Pylon apart from traditional support platforms by unifying teams and leveraging AI for actionable insights. They also emphasize their commitment to building in public and targeting high-growth markets, projecting a long-term vision of evolving customer interactions with AI-driven workflows.