The a16z Show · Saturday, October 24, 2026
Ben Horowitz argues that dismissing AI applications as mere 'GPT wrappers' is mistaken, comparing it to early criticisms of relational databases as just 'RDBMS wrappers.' He explains that applications like Cursor use multiple sophisticated models and incorporate unique data to create deep differentiation.
“GPT wrapper thing was always a bit of a dumb idea in terms of not to build one, but to call it that.”
“And when I look at the applications that are built on LOMs today, they themselves have many models. You know, I think Cursor's... is it 14 models now?”