Where does consumer AI stand at the end of 2025?

As 2025 comes to a close, consumer AI is entering a new phase. A small number of products now dominate everyday use, multimodal models have unlocked entirely new creative workflows, and the big labs have pushed aggressively into consumer experiences. At the same time, it is becoming clearer which ideas actually changed user behavior and which ones did not.

In this episode, a16z consumer investors Anish Acharya, Olivia Moore, Justine Moore, and Bryan Kim look back on the biggest product and model shifts of 2025 and ahead to what 2026 may bring. They discuss why consumer AI appears to be trending toward a winner-take-most model, how subtle product design choices can matter more than raw model quality, and why templates, multimodality, and distribution are shaping the next wave of consumer products.

Where do startups still have room to win? How will the role of the big labs continue to change? And what will it actually take for consumer AI apps to break out at scale in 2026?

Timecodes:
0:00 Introduction & Market Overview
0:35 Who Won Consumer AI in 2025?
1:22 Major Model and Product Launches
2:24 Image and Video Model Innovations
4:05 Product Sensibility and User Experience
6:40 Advances in Image and Video Models
9:11 Under-hyped Products and Productivity Apps
10:21 Prosumer Tools and Power User Workflows
12:56 Gemini vs. ChatGPT: Distribution and Brand
14:04 Product Nuances: Onboarding and Engagement
16:09 Social Features and Group Chat
19:26 Sora, TikTok, and the Status Game
21:02 Challengers: Claude, Perplexity, Grok
23:37 Meta, Grok, and Rapid Model Progress
26:54 Predictions for 2026: Enterprise, Apps, and Multimodality
32:02 Startup Opportunities and App Generation
36:27 Favorite Products and Recommendations
42:19 Building Consumer Products in 2026

Resources:
Follow Anish: https://twitter.com/illscience
Follow Olivia: https://twitter.com/omooretweets
Follow Bryan https://twitter.com/kirbyman01
Follow Justine: https://twitter.com/venturetwins

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details, please see a16z.com/disclosures.