Marc Andreessen discusses DOGE; AI16Z’s Eliza set for major update

Marc Andreessen, in a recent podcast, humorously referred to himself as DOGE’s “unpaid intern.” Meanwhile, independent crypto venture fund, AI16Z, has confirmed plans to merge Eliza version two with the main version.

Marc joined the Hoover Institution podcast to explain the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE) as a federal advisory body that would operationalize any disarray buried within the government bureaucracy.

Created by Donald Trump, it is a advisory committee responsible for reducing “headcount,” eliminating wasteful spending and repealing outdated or unnecessary regulations, Andreessen said.

He highlighted the sprawling size of the federal government, with estimates of as many as 450 to 500 agencies, many of which have “independent” authority that is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution.

The newly formed department would be led by Elon Musk, who has been a strong supporter of Dogecoin (DOGE) and Vivek Ramaswamy, an American entrepreneur.

Interestingly, the acronym “DOGE” playfully refers to Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency that Elon Musk has openly supported since 2020. Initially created as a joke, Dogecoin’s value has often increased in response to statements and Musk’s supporters.

Andreessen further suggests that DOGE intends to maintain constitutional compliance by limiting regulatory overreach. It also addresses issues such as underutilized federal office space, where only 25 percent of Washington, D.C. offices are populated, with some civil servants working “two days every other month.”

DOGE intends to expose such inefficiencies within the federal government and redirect taxpayer dollars where they are truly needed, all while relying heavily on buy-in from the President and Congress to produce results .

Eliza version 2 ready to launch

Meanwhile, ai16z (AI16Z)an independent crypto venture fund, created in collaboration with Eliza Labs, is at the forefront of gaming AI. On January 16, Shaw, founder of Eliza Labs and ai16z project partner, spoke about progress on Eliza version 2, which will be the next-generation AI agent core.

The new version is currently in a private repository, but after some testing within the community, the latest version should be moved to the main repository after about two months. For version 1, most of the effort was put in by Shaw, while version 2 is much more collaborative between internal and external teams, Shaw says.

As of this writing on January 16, crypto-AI is trading at $1.48 with a market size of over $47.5 billion, according to CoinGecko. AI16Z is up +15.37% in the last 24 hours, highlighting the role of AI and the growing confidence of crypto.