LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman warns Silicon Valley companies: You are Blind on software and AI, and missing the ‘big’ …

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman has warned that Silicon Valley’s obsession with software may be creating a blind spot, leaving companies at risk of missing the next major AI opportunities.

Speaking on the a16z podcast recently, Hoffman said the tech industry’s mindset that “everything should be done in software” has driven decades of success but now limits innovators from spotting new possibilities. The belief, he said, now risks keeping innovators from seeing new opportunities.Hoffman questioned during the podcast “What are the areas where the AI revolution will be magical?”“That's probably where I've been putting the majority of my co-founding time, invention time,” he said.Hoffman highlighted biology and healthcare as areas ripe for AI-driven transformation, saying AI tools could guide scientists toward promising experiments even if predictions are correct only a small fraction of the time. He clarified that he isn't betting on AI being able to design drugs independently. Instead, AI tools could guide scientists toward the most promising experiments, he said.“This is not a needle in a haystack; it’s like a needle in a solar system,” he said, explaining how AI could accelerate research in ways humans alone cannot.

He added that the next iconic AI companies may come from sectors most investors consider slow, complex, or heavily regulated, rather than the traditional software space."I've been thinking about the intersection of the worlds of atoms and the worlds of bits," Hoffman continued, adding "What are things that elevate human life?"Hoffman’s warning reflects a growing trend in AI for healthcare, where companies like Microsoft and Nvidia are already deploying AI for hospital operations, medical imaging, and drug discovery. His comments urge Silicon Valley to expand its focus beyond software if it wants to lead in the next generation of AI innovation.