@a16z's lead investment in Japan's @ShizukuAILabs sends a chilling signal: the tools of AI have been exhausted; now it's time to focus on the "soul." Founder Akio @CumOnHeather is both a Berkeley PhD and has personally nurtured an AI VTuber for two years. The double buff of "top-tier technology + anime-style aesthetics" directly reshapes the logic of AI agents: 1. From "easy to use" to "want to use": While others focus on parameters, a16z focuses on "presence." Rather than tools for writing code, a16z favors "electronic companions" that people want to spend time with every day. 2. Aesthetics are the moat: Algorithms will become cheap; this cultural ability to "bring a character to life" is a digital asset that cannot be transferred in the AI era. In the future, there will only be two types of AI: either extremely efficient calculators or irreplaceable soulmates. 「ともにに生きき、ともにに成するテクノロジー．」🫡