Investor Calls AI Browser Agents Underhyped
a16z partner Olivia Moore argues persistent browser agents enable far more end-to-end tasks.
Olivia Moore, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz focused on AI, posted that she sees widespread skepticism around Instinct and bot but considers them underhyped. She stated that persistent and performant browser use produces a real rise in the share of tasks AI can finish end to end, and that the value is not linear because a modest lift in task success could multiply usage. In the same cluster, academic Tan Zhi-Xuan retweeted a post that remains bearish on consumer AI assistants, pointing to shallow task chains and referencing Instinct posts.
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I’m seeing lots of skepticism around the Instinct and @bot hype If anything…I think they’re underhyped Persistent + performant browser use means a real increase in % of tasks AI can complete end to end The value of this isn’t linear - 5% increase in task success may 5x usage
I'm still pretty bearish on consumer AI assistants for this reason, c.f. Instinct posts
there's a deeper underestimated reason: consumers just do not have very many long chains of tasks which can be automated end to end to unlock huge value. their chains are shallow almost always in enterprise, org processes form very long chains, so the reward for automation is…
@herbiebradley I agree. Moreover, the main consumer case is reducing the fraction of time spent on boring non-physical non-job tasks — but that isn't high to begin with and has a floor of zero.
@herbiebradley For consumer tasks, reducing the fraction of time from 2% to 1% requires a doubling of AI efficiency, but doesn't make things much better for you. Whereas for certain kinds of business you can use that efficiency gain to double your output.
@herbiebradley Whether each doubling of efficiency is halving a bad thing vs doubling a good thing makes all the difference on the margin, and for consumer uses, it is mainly the former.
