The Future of Software Development - Vibe Coding, Prompt Engineering & AI Assistants

a16z Podcast

a16z

Science, Innovation, Business, Entrepreneurship, Culture, Disruption, Software Eating The World, Technology

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is AI the Fourth Pillar of Infrastructure? Infrastructure doesn’t go away — it layers. And today, AI is emerging as a new foundational layer alongside compute, storage, and networking. Erik Torenberg interviews a16z’s Martin Casado, Jennifer Li, and Matt Bornstein breaking down how infrastructure is evolving in the age of AI — from models and agents to developer tools and shifting user behavior. We dive into what infra actually means today, how it differs from enterprise, and why software itself is being disrupted. Plus, we explore the rise of technical users as buyers, what makes infra companies defensible, and how past waves — from the cloud to COVID to AI — are reshaping how we build and invest.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's like faster than light speed travel has just been invented.
0:03.0	For many of the developers and programmers I talked to today, they're like going to Disneyland, just because of how many great tools there are to help them move faster.
0:11.0	We do spend a lot of time just trying to be very honest with ourselves. What is the new behavior being created?
0:16.0	Where is stuff getting used?
0:18.0	Infrastructure never goes away. It just gets layered.
0:20.0	In this case, it's definitely all the infrastructure that we've been using and leveraging in the past are still very relevant, but it's definitely getting layered by having this fourth pillar. Software was always the disruptor. One of the most exciting thing about the AI wave is, like, software is being disrupted. Like, we're being disruptive. This is a pretty big deal. It's by far the biggest thing that I've seen happen sort of in my life. Is AI the fourth pillar of infrastructure? Today on the
0:43.5	podcast, we're joined by Martin Casado, Jennifer Lee, and Matt Borenstein from A16Z's Infra team to
0:49.3	unpack how infrastructure is evolving in the age of AI, from compute, storage, and networking to models,
0:55.6	developer tools, and agents. We get into what infra actually means today, how it differs from
1:00.5	enterprise, and why software itself is being disrupted. We also talk through the rise of
1:05.0	technical users as buyers, what makes an infra company defensible, and how past infra waves from
1:10.5	cloud to COVID to the current AI boom have shaped how we invest and build.
1:14.9	Let's get into it.
1:18.7	As a reminder, the content here is for informational purposes only.
1:22.3	Should not be taken as legal business, tax, or investment advice, or be used to evaluate any investment or security
1:27.6	and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any A16Z fund.
1:32.7	Please note that A16Z and its affiliates may also maintain investments in the companies
1:36.3	discussed in this podcast.
1:37.9	For more details, including a link to our investments, please see A16Z.com forward slash disclosures.
1:49.1	We're here today to discuss the state of infra.
1:51.7	First, can we get a definition of, where does infra differ from enterprise?
1:55.4	How do we think about it internally?
	...

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