The a16z Show · Thursday, August 6, 2026
Matt Bornstein observes that a year ago, open-source AI became central for startups aiming to build unique AI applications beyond just wrapping closed-source models. Companies like Cursur, Deckogon, and Harvey are leveraging open-source for their own mid-training, post-training, and inference optimization.
“So my read is like, kind of a year ago, open source became really central in a way that's not always visible because it's deeply embedded in some of these products.”
“But so many of the most innovative products and applications now really depend on this very deeply.”
“The close source vendors won't give you the access to do this.”