Replay 2025: David Sacks on AI, Crypto, and America's Technology Future
7/16/20261 hr 17 min
As part of our summer replay series, we're revisiting one of our most-discussed conversations from the past year.
David Sacks joins Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and Erik Torenberg to discuss the intersection of AI, crypto, regulation, and American competitiveness.
The conversation explores the Trump administration's approach to AI and crypto policy, open source AI, export controls, energy and infrastructure, the global race with China, and the role regulation plays in shaping innovation. They also discuss stablecoins, the future of AI development, permissionless innovation, and why they believe America's long-term advantage depends on enabling builders rather than slowing them down.
Along the way, Sacks shares his perspective on AI safety, decentralized technology, federal versus state regulation, and what it will take for the U.S. to remain the global leader in emerging technologies.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsDavid Sacks· Guest0:00
The Europeans, I mean, they have a really different mindset for all this stuff. When, when they talk about AI leadership, what they mean is that they're taking the lead in defining the regulations. You know, they get together in Brussels and figure out what all the rules should be, and that's what they call leadership.
Marc Andreessen· Panelist0:14
It's almost like a game show or something. They do everything they can to strangle them in their crib, and then if they, if they make it, if they make it through [laughs] like a decade of abuse as small companies, then they're gonna give them money to grow.
David Sacks· Guest0:23
Ronald Reagan had a line about this, which is, "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it." [laughs] Yeah. Uh, the Europeans are definitely at the subsidize it stage.
Speaker 30:33
The biggest questions surrounding AI aren't just technical anymore. They're increasingly about policy, infrastructure, regulation, and America's ability to stay ahead in a rapidly changing technology landscape. In this conversation, David Sacks joins Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and me to discuss AI, crypto, open source models, energy, regulation, and the global competition to build the next generation of technology. They explore what it means to win the AI race, why permissionless innovation matters, and how today's policy decisions could shape the future of both AI and crypto for years to come. David, welcome to the a16z podcast. Thanks for joining.
David Sacks· Guest1:18
Yeah, good to be here.
Speaker 31:20
So David, you're the AI and crypto czar. Why don't you first talk about why it makes sense to have those as a portfolio? What do they have to do with each other? And then I'll have you lay out what's the Trump plan on those two categories and how we're doing.