AIVenture Capital
Seeing The Future From AI Companions to Personal Software
•November 5, 2025
Original Description
Eugenia Kuyda, CEO of Wabi and AI pioneer behind Replika, joins Erik, Anish, and Justine to reveal how personal software will transform from a developer monopoly to a creative medium for all. She exposes why command-line AI interfaces are the new MS-DOS, explains how mini-apps will become as shareable as TikToks, and details her decade-long journey from training language models in 2012 to building the platform where your mom can create custom apps in minutes. Plus: untold stories from OpenAI's apartment days and why voice-only devices completely miss the point.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
00:54 - From AI Companions to Personal Software
02:55 - “It must be an interface problem”
03:43 - The Mac Moment for AI Interfaces
04:50 - When Apps Become Like YouTube Videos
05:54 - Ephemeral vs Durable Software
07:55 - Replacing Paid Apps with Wabi Creatiosn
10:04 - Who Will Create? Who Will Consume?
11:37 - Investing in “Software as Content”
14:17 - Mini-Apps as Community Catalysts
16:41 - The “Organization Layer” for Vibe Coding
19:07 - Wabi as a Framework for Memory, Context, and Expression
20:22 - Software 3.0: Deep Personalization through Shared Context
23:11 - Prompt Sharing as an Emergent User Behavior
28:11 - 100x’ing the World’s Meaningful Software
30:21 - The Creator Economy on Wabi
33:55 - How AI Evolved Since 2012
39:25 - Working From the OpenAI Office
42:01 - “You gotta be right, but also execute”
43:31 - Predicting Consumer Behavior
46:26 - Future AI Hardware: The Trap of Voice-First
Resources:
Follow Eugenia on X: https://x.com/ekuyda
Follow Anish on X: https://x.com/illscience
Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX
Listen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711
Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg
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.
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