A prominent Silicon Valley investor has a message for young people weighing college: consider learning how to build the future at an AI-focused school instead.
Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm also known as a16z, announced Tuesday that it is creating a college alternative for aspiring artificial intelligence and technology entrepreneurs. The unaccredited program, named the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, will teach students to use AI to develop products and services from the ground up.
The curriculum will cover AI system design, startup fundraising, business sales and storytelling. Rather than sit for exams or complete traditional homework, students will spend the year building practical projects. Classes will be led by technology entrepreneurs, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is listed as an instructor or guest lecturer.
Based in San Francisco, the for-profit academy is accepting applications for 50 students for its fall 2027 class. The one-year program will not charge tuition.
“The training that worked for the Industrial Revolution isn’t going to map perfectly onto the AI revolution, so somebody has to pioneer how you train a person for this new world,” Ben Horowitz, the firm’s co-founder and general partner, said in a statement.
The academy is designed for recent high school graduates as well as students who have completed no more than two years of coursework at an “elite university.”
The program has received $42 million in seed funding from a group of companies and investors that helped drive the AI boom. Backers include Anthropic, Google, Meta, OpenAI, Nvidia and Palantir.
Andreessen Horowitz is already a major backer of AI startups. In August, the firm said it had raised $1 billion for a venture fund dedicated to financing the physical infrastructure behind AI.
The academy plans to pursue regulatory approval for a two-year version of the program beginning in fall 2028. Tuition for that expanded offering is expected to be comparable to the cost of attending an elite private university.
