Stable Diffusion

a16z Partner: Hollywood Is Secretly Replacing Films With AI

Jul 23, 2026 · 50:27

Justine Moore, a16z partner and early backer of ElevenLabs, explains why AI microdramas — short, vertical soap operas — are becoming the fastest-growing entertainment format, with China's microdrama market now larger than its domestic box office. She argues model quality has reached 90-95% of filming, making it cheaper and faster, and professional storytellers are now using it to create compelling narratives. Amazon and Netflix have announced programs for fully AI-generated animations. ElevenLabs, which she backed at Series A, has crossed $500M in ARR. She highlights consumer agents like Town that automate tasks such as warm intros and expense forwarding, and sees the biggest opportunity in serving less technically sophisticated users and vertical industries like marketing and architecture.

The AI Version of You Will Outperform You — Emad Mostaque

Nov 16, 2025 · 51:27

Emad Mostaque, founder of Stability AI and now Intelligent Internet, argues that within 1,000 days, AI will create digital twins that replace most cognitive jobs, but the bigger risk is cognitive colonialism—a handful of corporations controlling the AI layer closest to people. He explains why he left Stability after it reached 300 million downloads to build open, sovereign AI for healthcare, education, and government, citing a medical model that outperforms human doctors on benchmarks and runs on a laptop. Mostaque warns that graduate jobs are already disappearing, and by 2028 coding jobs as we know them will vanish, replaced by English-language AI. He advocates for universal basic AI alongside universal basic income, and announces Sage, an open-source policy engine for governments, and a ChatGPT alternative that routes through any model at cost. The episode details his vision for distributed civic AI funded via Foundation Coin, where compute goes toward helping people rather than maximizing profit.

300 Million Downloads (Matt Rouif, Photoroom)

Aug 16, 2025 · 48:07

Matt Rouif, co-founder of Photoroom, explains how the photo editing app grew from a two-week prototype in 2019 to 300 million downloads and $20 million in annual revenue on only $2 million raised, becoming the largest AI image editing tool globally. He details early tactics like localizing in 10 languages and conducting customer interviews at McDonald's. COVID accelerated adoption as sellers moved online, and Photoroom's focus on trust—avoiding AI hallucinations in product shots—set it apart for e-commerce. Rouif shares plans for a video editing beta and personalized advertising at scale, where infinite marketing assets are tailored per user. He identifies trends: specialized AI models for mobile speed and trust, AI video maturing in 2025-2026, and personalized advertising that creates unique imagery for each segment.