Andreessen Horowitz Launches a Free AI School in San Francisco

Venture fund Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is launching its own educational institution, the Horowitz Andreessen Academy. It is an in-person school in San Francisco focused on AI and technology, and its first cohort will study for free.

What kind of school is it

The program runs for one year and starts in autumn 2027. A two-year format is planned for the future.

The learning model is unusual:

• Theory is delivered through short intensive courses lasting from 2 days to 4 weeks.
• The rest of the time goes to practice: founding companies, internships and working on real projects.
• According to the academy, there are no grades, tests or homework.

The school's idea is to learn "from the people written about in textbooks, not from the people who write textbooks."

Who teaches

Instructors and guest speakers include Sam Altman (OpenAI), Brian Armstrong (Coinbase), Dylan Field (Figma), Amjad Masad (Replit) and hundreds of other industry leaders.

Founding partners: Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit and Stripe.

Who can apply

The academy targets high school graduates and people who left university or college, especially those already experimenting with technology and wanting to grow "at Silicon Valley speed." About 50 students will be accepted per cohort.

To apply, you need to submit documents, a video presentation and a personal website listing your achievements.

Cost and support

• Tuition is free for the first cohort (2027). Paid tuition is planned from 2028.
• Each student gets computing resources worth up to $50,000, access to equipment and a $5,000 allowance for research and travel.

The project raised $42 million from Andreessen Horowitz and private investors, including Adam D'Angelo (Quora), Tobi Lütke (Shopify) and Tony Xu (DoorDash).

Why this matters

This is another signal that the tech industry is building its own alternative to the classic university path: short intensive modules, a lot of practice and direct access to practitioners. For young people in Armenia, the key takeaway is that selection at this level is based on a portfolio and real projects, not only on grades. It makes sense to start building that portfolio now.

Official website: theacademysf.com

Source: vc.ru