🚨 Introducing the AI Apps 50: Startup Edition

Ever wondered how startups are spending their money when it comes to AI?

Our team at @a16z worked with @mercury to crunch the numbers and rank the top applications by spend.

The list + what we learned from it👇 First of all, how did we assemble this list?

We took data from Mercury's 200k+ customers (many are early stage startups) and ranked the vendors based on total spend between June and August 2025.

We then pulled the top 50 AI-powered applications from this list.

Takeaways ⬇️

OpenAI just released the largest-ever report on how consumers are using ChatGPT.

It looks at millions of (anonymized) messages over the last 3 years to analyze usage evolution over time.

Key takeaways 👇 1⃣ Usage engagement is increasing.

Older cohorts initially saw a dip in usage throughout 2023 (when new model/feature release was slow)

...but since then, every cohort has seen increasing usage (message volume) over time.

This is also true looking at usage / WAU in a cohort.

In the AI era, consumer startups are on a new trajectory.

The best B2C companies are exceeding 100% net revenue retention - which was previously only possible in B2B.

At @a16z, we call this "The Great Expansion." How companies achieve it👇 First, what does 100%+ NRR mean?

Net revenue retention = % of revenue that is retained over a period of time after accounting for churn and expansion.

If it's over 100%, the company is making MORE money from a cohort of customers over time.

I've spent the last two years studying consumer AI trends.

Yesterday, our team @a16z published our latest report on the top 100 AI products (by usage).

My biggest surprises - and what to learn from them ⬇️ 1️⃣ DeepSeek falls off

DeepSeek traffic significantly declined, now down 22% from peak on mobile and 40% on web.

Of DeepSeek's top 5 countries, usage fell in the U.S., Russia, India, and Brazil - and was flat only in China.

Once the novelty wore off, users did not retain.

🚨 Announcing the latest @a16z top 100 AI apps!

This marks the fifth edition 🎉 of our global ranking of consumer AI websites and mobile apps by usage.

And in my opinion, it was our most surprising list yet!

Our top takeaways + who made it 👇
1️⃣ Consumer AI is starting to stabilize.

This edition of the list saw only 11 new names on the web rankings*, compared with 17 on our last edition.

The mobile list saw more new entrants, as the App Store cracked down on ChatGPT copycats!

*excl. Google properties - more below!

Over the last week, I grew a 100% AI influencer to 500 followers (and a viral video)

…and it took <10 minutes / day, and only three tools!

This may be the future of brands, marketing, and even entertainment.

How I did it + what I learned 👇 First - the best way to “bootstrap” a new account is on the back of a trend with a lot of search volume.

I chose the University of Alabama’s sorority rush week - hundreds of girls post OOTD (outfit of the day) videos.

I used those hashtags for early traction (first video ⬇️)

Last week, I published my AI Stack - the top 10 products (of thousands!) that have become core to my day-to-day.

Now, I’m sharing details on how I actually set up workflows and utilize each tool to be more productive.

Full demos below👇 1️⃣ Comet (@perplexitycomet)

Comet is Perplexity's agentic browser. I use it to "chat" with my email and calendar, as well as to set up workflows and more complex automations via Shortcuts and Tasks.

Ex. Daily schedule breakdown, save down LI profiles to run automations.

New @a16z podcast - it's the battle of the agentic browsers! 🥊

I tested @diabrowser and @PerplexityComet for a week, to see if either could dethrone Google Chrome.

Who emerged as my "winner"? 👇 Overall, @PerplexityComet earned a spot as my new default 👑

It has a powerful agent built in, and the connections into G Suite + ability to set Tasks unlock real use cases.

But, I also expect to remain a Dia WAU for Skills, which allow you to build workflows to feed context to.

I've spent the afternoon testing ChatGPT's new consumer automation product - Agent.

Where does it work, and where does it fall short?

And how does it compare to Operator (and newer products like Perplexity's Comet)?

My review 👇 TL;DR - it's...slow 🙃

Agent is faster than Operator (and with a higher success rate), but feels like molasses compared to Comet.

I think it's because the product spins up a "virtual computer" for each task, which is slower than an API call even if that alone would suffice.

I was curious how easy it is to make $ on social media with AI video.

So, I set up accounts and tested it on IG, YouTube, and TikTok.

TL;DR it’s not as simple as it might look…what I learned 👇
First…my results! After making ~25 videos (some original, some compilations), I ended up with:

- 70 followers, 2.8k likes, ~50k views on TikTok
- 23 followers, ~10k views on IG
- 21 subscribers, ~25k views on YouTube

🫠

ChatGPT released its new notetaking tool (in the desktop app only) 👇

It's invisible (doesn't appear in meetings) and drops notes directly into a ChatGPT Canvas.

I tested it head-to-head versus products like Granola and Notion...here's how it performed. First, there's a few clear UI deficiencies.

It doesn't connect to your calendar, so can't auto-trigger recordings like @meetgranola (screenshot ⬇️).

It doesn't understand participant or company names. And there's no way to build prompts/templates for meeting types.

How does Google's new agentic browser (Project Mariner) compare with ChatGPT Operator?

I tested them head-to-head, using both platform's suggested prompts (to make it fair!) 👇 First - a simple Project Mariner prompt: "Find an available hotel in Napa Valley for a stay from next Friday to next Sunday on Expedia"

✅ Project Mariner - completed task in 2 min
🫳 Operator - completed task in 3 min but I had to approve several steps before it would continue

By popular demand - how to create your own Ghibli podcast!

This is actually a pretty simple three-step process using @hedra_labs, @KapwingApp, and @ChatGPTapp 👇

https://twitter.com/omooretweets/status/1905060051125162111

1⃣ Start with a reference image...and Ghibli-fy it!

I took a screenshot of the actual podcast video this was from, and then asked ChatGPT to re-render it in Studio Ghibli style.

Right now, this works better with just one character in frame.

AI can now hire and manage human employees 🤯

I gave ChatGPT Operator a $25 budget and asked it get a logo made for me...and it delivered! (and gave a five-star review to the designer)

Here's how it worked 👇 First, I wanted to give Operator some freedom. I told it to spend a maximum of $25, and that I needed a logo for "Olivia's AI Experiments."

But, Operator was welcome to hire a designer on Upwork, Fiverr, etc. - or subscribe to design software.

Operator immediately chose Fiverr!

🚨 New @a16z thesis - an update on AI voice agents!

2024 was a huge year for voice agents, with massive model breakthroughs + hundreds of new startups.

How has the space evolved, and where do we see opportunity in 2025?

Our update + market maps for B2B and B2C 👇 To start: we see voice as one of AI's biggest unlocks.

Voice AI is now nearly at human standards, allowing tech to replace labor on the phone.

This has huge implications for businesses, who can answer (or make) calls 24/7, at low cost.

Our full thesis: gamma.app/docs/EXTERNAL-…

Announcing....Apps Unwrapped! 🎁

It's been a massive year for AI, with tons of new products to try.

Our @a16z consumer team asked some of AI's biggest stars to nominate their favorites of 2024.

Here's what they picked 👇 If you're looking for a general assistant, try...

- @perplexity_ai: AI search, also chosen for its new Shopping experience
- @anthropic: Claude AI assistant
- @chatgptapp: chosen for Advanced Voice Mode!

AI voice agents are on 🔥

We're moving from the innovator -> early adopter part of the curve, with new startups sprouting up weekly to serve different verticals.

What @illscience and I are seeing @a16z, and why we're excited 👇 Not every business is ready for today's voice agents.

The early adopters tend to have a few things in common:

They heavily rely on calls to drive new business. These calls have a defined task or structure, and the stakes are (relatively) low - they're not life-or-death.

🚨 Announcing the top 100 consumer gen AI apps!

For the third time, we ranked every AI website and mobile app by usage.

There were some shakeups from our last list, including 25+ new entrants.

Here's what it says about how consumers are using AI 👇
1️⃣ Creative tools continue to dominate.

52% of top sites are in content generation or editing - including 60% of new entrants!

This includes 3 in video (@LumaLabsAI, @ViggleAI, @vidnoz_official) and 1 in music (@udiomusic).

Music co @suno_ai_ was the top mover by # of spots.

🚨 New @a16z investment thesis: AI scribes.

Imagine if you had a superhuman assistant that listened to your conversations, took perfect notes, and flagged follow-ups.

And, it could make you smarter by surfacing insights or trends you missed.

More from me & @illscience👇 Let's start with the history of scribes.

It's an ancient profession dating back to the invention of written language.

The role was critical in facilitating communication of all kinds - business, legal, religious, etc. - as well as recording history.

🚨 New @a16z investment thesis!

It's time for AI to reinvent the phone call - enter conversational voice agents 📱

What we're excited to invest in + market maps (from me and @illscience) 👇 @a16z @illscience We see use cases for voice agents across B2B and B2C.

For businesses - replace labor with software!

For consumers - provide access to previously expensive services (therapy, coaching, etc.) + unlock new types of conversations.

Read our full thesis here: gamma.app/docs/a16z-Real…

🚨 Announcing...the top 100 consumer genAI apps!

We ranked every AI web product by usage - and for the first time, ranked mobile apps too.

Consumer AI is moving fast, with some major updates since our last ranks 6 months ago.

Our takeaways 👇

1️⃣ The pace of progress is breakneck 🏃‍♀️

In our web ranks, ChatGPT kept the lead, and eight of the top ten were consistent from our last list.

But, the list also saw 22 new entrants out of 50 (44%!)

Plus, major moves ⬆️ from cos like @MeetGamma and @elevenlabsio.