Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Netscape and a prominent venture capitalist at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), has weighed in on a crucial question in the age of rapidly advancing AI: What skills will be most valuable in the future? His answer, while perhaps surprising to some, emphasizes the power of breadth over depth.
“I think there’s basically two ways to really have a differentiated edge in general: go deeper or go broad,” Andreessen said on the TBPN podcast. “‘Go deep’ is become a more and more specialized expert over time, and there are domains in which that really matters, biotech and things like working on AI Foundation models — the deeper you are the better,” he added.
But Andreessen said that in most other fields, being more a generalist would be better given the prevalence of AI. “I think for most fields though now with these new (AI) tools, I would probably bet more on basically people who are able to be broad. Which is to say basically knowing something about a lot of different aspects of life and how the world works. And then you can use the tool, you can use the AI, to go deep whenever you need to, but then your job as a human is to cross the domains and the disciplines.”
“If you talk to any of the great CEOs, they’re great product people and they’re great salespeople and they’re great marketing people, and you know, and they’re great legal thinkers and they’re great finance people and they’re great with investors and they’re great with the press right? So it’s this sort of multidisciplinary kind of approach and being able to cross domains,” he said.
Andreessen said that even entrepreneurs of today have to be proficient in several areas, but this could be accentuated in the AI era. “The entrepreneur has always kind of had the burden for somebody else to do something serious — they have to be like that at least to some extent. The best entrepreneurs the future I think will probably be like quite skilled like six or eight things and then able to kind of cross and combine them,” he said.
Andreessen’s perspective arrives at a pivotal moment. The relentless march of AI is prompting widespread speculation about the future of work. Will specialized skills become obsolete? Will robots take over? Andreessen’s argument suggests a different, more nuanced reality.
His assertion that generalists will thrive hinges on the idea that AI will handle the deep dives into specific subjects, freeing humans to focus on broader, more integrative thinking. In essence, AI becomes a powerful tool in the hands of a generalist, allowing them to access expertise on demand and apply it across multiple domains. This echoes what many forward thinkers are saying – that creativity, critical thinking, and the ability to connect disparate ideas will be paramount.
This isn’t to diminish the importance of specialists entirely. As Andreessen notes, certain fields, like AI research and biotechnology, will continue to require deep expertise. However, for the vast majority of roles, a broader understanding of the world, coupled with the ability to leverage AI, may become the most valuable asset. The future may belong to those who can “cross and combine” different skills and perspectives, creating innovative solutions and navigating the complexities of a rapidly changing world.