You Can't Be One Thing Anymore

What's the most important skill in today's digital world? Tech super-connector Chris Lyons has an answer: It's the ability to collaborate.

- NICOLE GULL MCELROY

Who will be safe in the age of AI? Chris Lyons has an answer worth listening to. He is arguably the most culturally savvy guy at the most culturally influential VC firm, Andreessen Horowitz. He put together many of the splashiest tech deals today-because he's the one forming the relationships between disruptive founders and attention-getting celebrities. Serena Williams calls him a friend. Kevin Durant's business partner credits him with helping introduce the NBA superstar to Silicon Valley. Multiplatinum music artist will.i.am says that Lyons can find "Dr. Dre before he is Dr. Dre"-which is to say, he can spot the next icon while they're still nobody.

So according to Lyons, who is safe in the age of AI? To look forward, he says, we should first look backward-to Renaissance Italy. "I've done a lot of studying of the Medici Era," he says. "Think about a world with poets, designers, and architects all coming and working together." Today, he says, we should think of our time as a digital renaissanceas once-siloed disciplines come crashing together and industries start to overlap. "A blockchain expert sits down with a fashion house. An AI creative sits down with a musician. Now, instead of Michelangelo, we are uploading to Sora [OpenAI's text-to-video model]. Who knows how to put those pieces together?"