a16z AI Policy Brief

Policymakers have spent years talking about rebuilding America’s industrial base, reshoring critical supply chains, strengthening defense production, and reducing U.S. dependence on China. But recognizing the need to build is not the same as having the ability to do it.
Erin Price-Wright, general partner on Andreessen Horowitz’s American Dynamism practice, joins the AI Policy Brief to make the case that AI isn’t just a software story. It’s the defining factor in the sectors that determine whether the U.S. can build, power, and defend itself in the decades ahead.
She and Matt Perault discuss how AI can help make the math work for building in the U.S. again—from accelerating mine permitting and coordinating complex industrial projects to designing factories, lowering the cost of automation, and bringing robotics to more factory floors.
They also discuss where policy needs to catch up: the laws and regulations that make it too hard and slow to build new factories in the U.S. and defense procurement that still favors incumbents over startups.
Finally, they discuss how the debates over data centers and jobs will shape whether America’s reindustrialization effort succeeds.
The takeaway: if the U.S. gets the policy environment right, AI can strengthen the industrial base, help create new kinds of jobs, and give America a powerful competitive advantage.
Topics covered:
00:00: Intro
00:54: Erin’s work investing in AI for the physical world
01:47: Why AI and reindustrialization are converging now
03:07: Applying AI to mining and critical minerals
08:28: What Ukraine reveals about defense production
18:13: How startups are breaking into government markets
20:16: Bringing a factory mindset to critical sectors and complex systems
24:39: How robotics can expand factory automation
30:22: What still makes it too hard to build in the U.S.
32:49: Using AI to design better, cheaper manufactured goods
35:05: Why data centers matter for reindustrialization
39:46: How compute could help modernize the grid and lower costs for consumers
42:50: Why AI could create new industrial jobs
Resources:
Subscribe to the a16z AI Policy Brief: https://a16zpolicy.substack.com/
Follow Matt Perault: https://x.com/MattPerault
Follow Erin Price-Wright: https://x.com/espricewright
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.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit a16zpolicy.substack.com

For AI startups, the policy landscape is expanding faster than most small teams can reasonably track. This creates a practical challenge for Little Tech: even when a startup wants to engage constructively, it may not have the resources to follow every debate in every jurisdiction.
Ben Supple, head of global policy at ElevenLabs, joins Matt Perault to talk about his experience running a public policy function at a company that is scaling rapidly. ElevenLabs is a leader in voice AI, building products for creators, enterprises, and governments, while its public policy function is still small enough to count on one hand.
The conversation offers a look at how a fast-growing AI company prioritizes policy work, builds relationships with governments, and makes the case for clear, consistent rules that startups can implement.
They also discuss how voice AI can improve citizen services and outcomes: replacing rigid, menu-based phone trees with more intelligent conversational agents that can resolve issues, switch languages live, and offer greater accessibility.
Topics covered:
00:00: Intro
01:42: What is ElevenLabs?
04:59: Voice AI use cases, from dubbing to customer service
06:59: The competitive landscape for voice AI
10:51: Building a policy function at ElevenLabs
12:00: Prioritizing policy work with a small team
15:13: Engaging policymakers across jurisdictions
18:11: Growing and shipping at startup speed
20:19: Human oversight and AI agents
22:54: Key policy issues for voice AI
25:42: Scaling into new regulatory obligations
30:17: State AI rules and the need for clear goalposts
32:25: ElevenLabs’ expansion in New York
34:10: Fixing the front door to government
36:22: Government use cases for voice AI
38:55: The social value of voice AI, One Million Voices, and accessibility
Resources:
Subscribe to the a16z AI Policy Brief: https://a16zpolicy.substack.com/
Follow Matt Perault: https://x.com/MattPerault
Follow Ben Supple: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-supple-a900695/
Learn more about ElevenLabs for Government: https://elevenlabs.io/chatbot/government
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.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit a16zpolicy.substack.com

How should we hold people responsible when AI causes harm? That's the job of a liability regime.
In this conversation, Jai Ramaswamy, chief legal and policy officer, joins Matt Perault, head of AI policy at a16z, to unpack the role of liability in AI policy: how to protect people from real harms without slowing innovation, limiting competition, or punishing the wrong actors.
They discuss why trust is essential to long-term AI adoption, why liability should focus on harmful uses rather than general-purpose development, and how policymakers can design rules that hold bad actors accountable while giving startups room to build.
The conversation also explores what a workable AI liability regime should prioritize: accountability, proportionality, enforcement of existing laws, and targeted updates where current law falls short.
For founders, policymakers, and anyone tracking the future of AI regulation, this episode offers a guide for thinking about responsibility, risk, and innovation in the AI era.
Topics covered:
00:00: Intro
01:00: Why AI liability is on the table now, and why it's been on Jai's mind for years
02:00: Why this matters — trust, long-term ecosystems, and the equities at stake
04:00: Failure modes at both ends — crushing liability vs. blanket immunity, and why neither serves Little Tech
08:00: The proposals we're concerned about — SB 1047, strict developer liability for downstream misuse, AI as an automatic aggravating factor in criminal law
14:00: The Little Tech lens — focusing on wrongdoing, not building, and why "paperwork favors the powerful"
18:00: The least-cost avoider principle and how it maps onto AI
23:00: Building a better regime — presumption of user liability for AI outputs, procedural safeguards, and well-designed safe harbors
31:00: Protecting good behavior — information sharing, incident reporting, and getting incentives right
32:00: Federal vs. state roles — the constitutional allocation as a guide to liability design
Resources:
Subscribe to the a16z AI Policy Brief: https://a16zpolicy.substack.com/
Follow Matt Perault: https://x.com/MattPerault
Follow Jai Ramaswamy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jai-ramaswamy-85a77675/
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.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit a16zpolicy.substack.com

Andrew Chen spends his time with the founders policymakers almost never hear from: two-and three-person teams, often before incorporation when a company is still a project. As general partner on a16z speedrun, he works at the earliest edge of Little Tech, backing founders at day one and helping them turn ambition into an actual business.
In this conversation, Andrew joins Matt Perault to talk about what life looks like for small teams working at kitchen tables, operating on short runways, and simultaneously trying to build, find customers, and survive in competitive markets. They also discuss why so many startups are effectively absent from the policy process.
The conversation widens to the question of what makes startup ecosystems work in the first place. Andrew shares lessons from building the Tech Week ecosystem, including what local markets need to foster entrepreneurship and why supporting innovation is ultimately a choice.
Topics covered:
00:00: Intro
00:39: What is a16z speedrun?
02:08: The average profile of an early stage company
06:15: Why a16z built speedrun
08:36: A day in the life of a speedrun founder
13:22: What happens when startups do not work out
17:41: The cumulative burden of regulation for startups
21:49: Why Little Tech is absent from policy debates
25:05: How policy shapes where startups build
27:46: What makes startup ecosystems work
29:55: The idea behind Tech Week
32:52: How Tech Week surfaces future founders
33:23: Policy’s presence at Tech Week
34:38: Why policymakers should engage with Little Tech
Resources:
Subscribe to the a16z AI Policy Brief: https://a16zpolicy.substack.com/
Follow Matt Perault: https://x.com/MattPerault
Follow Andrew Chen: https://x.com/andrewchen
Learn more about a16z speedrun: https://speedrun.a16z.com/
Check out Tech Week event calendars: https://www.tech-week.com/calendar
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.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit a16zpolicy.substack.com

In this conversation, Matt Perault, head of AI policy, and Collin McCune, head of government affairs, take stock of the current AI policy moment.
As AI policy moves beyond rhetoric and into a more consequential phase, Matt and Collin separate signal from noise. They unpack where momentum is building in Washington, how state activity continues to drive the policy environment, and what it all means for Little Tech.
Along the way, they dig into some of the most active debates including proposals focused on protecting kids, workforce disruption, data centers, benchmarking and licensing regimes, and the evolving balance between federal and state action.
Enjoy.
Topics covered:
01:14: The current AI policy moment
03:45: The White House National AI Framework: what’s new and what’s next
11:49: Kids, AI access, and the case against bans
17:49: Data centers, communities, and energy policy
19:56: Workforce disruption, retraining, and labor policy
25:32: Copyright, censorship, and other key debates
26:55: The Democrat perspective and response
32:27: Benchmarking, testing, and startup access
33:23: Licensing regimes and regulatory capture risks
38:16: What’s next in Congress?
44:00: States at the center of AI policymaking
48:22: Preemption, federalism, and the state-federal divide
55:27: Dormant Commerce Clause implications
58:59: Why Little Tech needs to stay engaged now
Resources:
Subscribe to the a16z AI Policy Brief: https://a16zpolicy.substack.com/
Follow Matt Perault: https://x.com/MattPerault
Follow Collin McCune: https://x.com/Collin_McCune
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.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit a16zpolicy.substack.com