The Empty Middle: A Barbell for Ordinary Investors in the AI Boom

Fifteen years after 'software is eating the world,' a16z's new memo 'Investing in Cognition' says software is about to eat it at the speed of compute — while Wall Street fights over when, or whether, hundreds of billions in AI capex ever gets paid back. Daniel and Emily test a barbell answer for regular families: fortress cash-flow giants on one end, small asymmetric bets on the other, and a deliberately empty middle. ## Hosts ### Daniel Altman Daniel Altman is a computer scientist and AI strategist with a background in engineering, quantitative research, and emerging technologies. He studies how technological breakthroughs reshape industries, markets, work, and human capabilities. ### Emily Carter Emily Carter is a business strategist and former technology product leader with experience building digital products and studying how innovation reaches millions of users. She focuses on AI adoption, business transformation, work, education, entrepreneurship, and leadership. ## Sources - https://www.a16z.news/p/investing-in-cognition ## Episode Information Language: en Published: 2026-09-12T19:36:21.953462+00:00