Ben Horowitz: AI is early. Culture Decides Who Wins.

Ben Horowitz did not come to soothe. In a conversation with Columbia Business School Dean Costis Maglaras, the Andreessen Horowitz co-founder argued that today’s AI moment is only the prologue to a far longer story.

VC icon Ben Horowitz breaks down what’s next: AI is early, open source could shape global values, and culture is a daily habit, not a poster on the wall. (Photo: Andreessen Horowitz)

“We just got the technology working like four years ago,” he said, noting that tech cycles tend to run in 25-year arcs.

The question now, he added, is whether another breakthrough on the scale of transformers is coming, or whether the industry will compound on what exists.

Either way, leaders should prepare for change that arrives gradually, then suddenly.

Horowitz’s view of adoption cuts against the easy narratives of job loss or overnight reinvention.

He called AI’s disruption “both overrated and underrated,” reminding the audience that earlier waves of automation eliminated some roles while creating others no one in the "1750s" could have imagined.

The nearer-term reality, he said, is that AI is already speeding up creative and operational work. In film production, for instance, directors shoot fewer takes and use open-source video models for the rest, while writers lean on tools to polish dialogue.

“It’s going to affect every single sector, but not in ways that you would easily anticipate.”

The conversation quickly widened to geopolitics and openness. Horowitz argued that open-source AI, particularly access to model weights, has cultural stakes because “the model’s interpretation of history” and social values are encoded there.

In his view, U.S. policy has been too skeptical of open source, which he believes ceded momentum to rivals.

Secrecy, he said, is a poor strategy in an internet era where information leaks and espionage are facts of life. The better path, he argued, is to play to American strengths by enabling broad participation and rapid iteration.

He also tied crypto to AI’s next phase. For AI agents to transact, they need internet-native money and identity.

Horowitz argues that crypto will serve as the economic network for AI agents, enabling identity, payments, and provenance

That, he suggested, points to blockchains for payments, provenance, and proofs that reduce today’s centralized “honeypots” for hackers. It is a network layer that could make intelligent systems economic actors, not just software.

If the technology is unsettled, Horowitz is certain about the human side. Strategy alone does not carry companies through disruption. Culture does. He urged leaders to define daily behaviors, not slogans.

“A culture is not a set of beliefs, the set of actions,” he said, describing why his firm fines partners for showing up late to founder meetings.

Ben Horowitz in conversation with Columbia Business School Dean Costis Maglaras during the Silfen Leadership Series on Sept. 3, 2025. (Source: Columbia Business School YouTube)

The rule is not theater; it programs respect into a high-leverage habit. His advice to CEOs was equally bracing: do not try to “develop” executives in functions you have never done yourself.

The job at the top is to set direction, make only-you decisions, and ensure the right people are in the right roles. Anything else dilutes attention from the work only a chief can do.

For professionals in their prime working years, the takeaway is practical. Expect AI to start by automating the mundane in your field, then bend workflows in surprising ways.

Watch the open-source ecosystem because it will shape what gets built and whose values are embedded in the tools you use.

Above all, lean into cultures that translate intent into everyday actions. That is how teams endure long cycles and emerge stronger on the other side.