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Title: Andreessen Horowitz Launches AI/Company-Building School As a College
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Link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/09/23/0625...

TechCrunch quipped it was like if startup school Y Combinator and Peter
Thiel's build-a-company-instead of-college Fellowship Program had a baby.
Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is investing $35
million to launch a private school in San Francisco "aimed at turning high
school graduates into founders," writes the SF Standard. Or, as CBS News
describes it, "One blue-chip Silicon Valley investor has a proposal for young
people who are questioning whether to attend college - enroll in AI school
instead...." Specifically, the academy will provide instruction geared to
subjects such as designing AI systems, fundraising for startups, selling
businesses and storytelling. Students won't take tests or be assigned
homework but will instead focus on building real projects. Courses will be
taught by tech entrepreneurs, with the academy naming OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
as either an instructor or guest lecturer. From the SF Standard: "There will
be no traditional grades, tests, or homework," said the announcement.
Instead, students will be encouraged to "build" in SF and work with partners
from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Meta, and other firms. They'll be encouraged
to live in campus housing in San Francisco. "The #1 goal is to help students
learn to build, which is the most important skill in the AI era," Gagan
Biyani, chief executive of the academy, wrote on X. Biyani cofounded the ed-
tech startup Udemy... The school is opening applications for a Founding Class
Fellowship a one-year, tuition-free program for around 50 students... The
academy said it will bring in notable Silicon Valley names, like OpenAI's Sam
Altman, as guest speakers and faculty. Students in the founding class will
receive about $50,000 worth of computing credit - the sought-after currency
in Silicon Valley to run AI models - as well as a $5,000 travel and research
budget. The school is receiving funding from tech executives, including Fidji
Simo, formerly of OpenAI and Instacart; Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator; and
Tobi Lutke, CEO of Shopify. "In the AI era, it's more important to come out
with a portfolio of projects that you worked on and work experience than it
is to have a diploma or certificate," Biyani told the San Francisco
Chronicle: Biyani said the academy plans to grow its enrollment and open a
two-year program, pending regulatory approval, starting in the fall of 2028.
Tuition is expected to be on par with the cost of an elite private
university... The academy raised $42 million in funding led by Andreessen
Horowitz. The ten founding partners are Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google,
Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit and Stripe. A network of hundreds of
instructors, hiring partners and guest speakers includes OpenAI co-founder
Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, neuroscientist Andrew Huberman and
Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, according to the academy's website.
The FAQ describes a typical week by saying "Most of your time is yours to
build. Each week, you share your progress with peers and practitioners, get
direct feedback, and decide where to take your work next." Q: Can I use AI to
help with my application? A: Yes. Use AI the way you'd use it on any project:
to move faster, test ideas, and get past a blank page.... "The best
assignments now are problems so hard they cannot be solved without AI,"
Andreessen Horowitz argued on X.com. "The Academy courses follow the same
logic and will be taught by world-class leaders... The next generation will
not be taught the way the last one was. The Academy is built for that world,
and it begins in San Francisco." Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader theodp
for sharing the news.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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