No 'Permanent Underclass' in AI Era, VC Partner Says Opportunities Are More Widespread

A partner at the famous Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Anish Acharya, recently said AI will not create a so-called 'permanent underclass' and people should not worry too much. This responds to debates about people who do not work in top AI labs or use the latest AI tools may fall behind permanently.

Acharya said compared to past tech booms, AI technology and opportunities are more widely distributed. Each layer of the AI tech stack has about 20 influential players, not just a few big companies. In coding agents, successful products like Claude Code, Codex, and Lovable have emerged, which he finds encouraging.

He added that even outside tech, jobs like radiology still have strong demand, so there is little evidence that a 'permanent underclass' is forming.