Marc Andreessen: The widespread negative sentiment towards technology is an illusion created by polls and elite media
Marc Andreessen, founder of a16z, stated that the widespread negative sentiment towards technologies such as social media and AI primarily stems from biased polling questions and elite media reporting, rather than reflecting the true mainstream public opinion.
He pointed out that in reasonably designed polls, the public's attitude towards technology is far less negative, and everyday usage behavior (large crowds continuously using social media and AI tools) better reflects true attitudes.
Andreessen believes that this "massive negative" narrative is artificially constructed and is clearly disconnected from the actual behaviors and feelings of ordinary people.
Source: Public information
ABAB AI Insight
Marc Andreessen has long criticized the elite's hostility towards technology, previously pointing out the framing biases in mainstream media and academic polls on tech issues. This statement continues his "tech optimism" stance, emphasizing that public actual behavior (high-frequency daily use) is far more reliable than survey answers.
In terms of capital, a16z continues to invest heavily in AI, social, and foundational technologies, using actual product penetration and user growth data to counter negative narratives, aiming to maintain positive capital flow and policy environment in the tech industry, and to avoid excessive regulation and public opinion suppressing innovation.
Similar to past early panics over the internet and mobile internet that were ultimately disproven by public adoption behavior, the current AI and tech industry is in a cognitive transition phase from "elite narrative-driven negativity" to "public actual usage-driven positivity."
Essentially, this is about capital concentration: elite media and biased polls amplify negative attention, while real capital and user behavior continue to concentrate on technology, reallocating resources from exaggerated risk narratives to actual adoption and growth drivers. Mechanically, this breaks the illusion of "majority opposition" through daily usage data, accelerating the structural shift of technology from a controversial subject to infrastructure.
ABAB News · Law of Cognition
What people say and what they do are never the same thing.
The loudest negative voices often come from those who do not use the technology much.
True public opinion is never found in surveys, but in the number of times people open an app each day.