🍭 a16z's Top 100 AI Apps 🏅

Good morning. It’s Friday and the intern stayed at the office all night.

“How else am I gonna find time to test out all the top 100 AI apps?”

Let’s dig in.

🍭 What’s Cookin’:

• a16z’s ‘Top AI Apps’

• Claude and “Vibe-Hacking”

• 5 AI Tools to Make Tasks Handle Themselves

• And Everything Else

Top AI App Report
🍌 a16z’s Top 100 AI Apps

The Bite: AI #2’s like Grok, Claude, Gemini, etc… are closing the gap to the top AI user application; ChatGPT.

a16z released their report of the top 100 AI consumer apps;
Top 50 Web Apps and Top 50 Mobile Apps.

6 months ago, they shipped a similar list with many more “clone” or look alike apps.

Wednesday’s list; more original AI applications.

Snacks:

• Copycat purge: App stores’ clone crackdown opened space for 14 fresh mobile entrants; web saw 11 newcomers (vs 17 last time)

• Google x4: Separate domains let a16z track Gemini, AI Studio, NotebookLM, Google Labs. All ranked this round.

• Grok’s arc: From no standalone app in 2024 to #23 mobile and ~20M Monthly Active Users.

• China’s footprint: 3 of the web top‑20 primarily serve China (Quark, Doubao, Kimi); 22/50 mobile apps were developed in China.

• Sticky builders: Vibe coding users show >100% revenue retention in some cohorts; Lovable leapt to #22; Replit joined the list too.

Why it Bites: The bar to matter is higher.

You need distribution, clear PMF, and visible model upgrades.

If you’re shipping “another chatbot,” in 2025, you’re shipping to nobody.

🍭 Steal This Prompt 🍭
🧊 Glass Cube Serenity - @LloydCreates

Isometric meditation meets modern design.

Chill, futuristic vibes with a surreal architectural twist.

Prompt credit: Lloyd Creates

1. Get the PROMPT → HERE

2. Paste into MJ

3. Replace the #’s

4. Let it cook

   
   🍭 Try the prompt on Snack Prompt 🍭

Vibe Hacking
🤖 Claude Was the Muscle in AI‑Powered Cyber Crimes

The Bite: Anthropic says attackers turned Claude Code into an on‑call cyber operator:

Scanning networks, stealing data, and even drafting ransom notes.

In a July campaign that hit at least 17 organizations across government, healthcare, emergency services, and religious institutions.

Even Sahil

Ransom asks ranged from $75K–$500K.

Snacks:

• Crews used Claude Code for recon, reporting, malware, and theft.

• Loot: SSNs, bank data, patient records, internal docs

• Claude made ransom notes, 48–72h plans; asks hit $500K

• Anthropic banned accounts, added filters.

Why it bites: Anthropic’s getting heat according to headlines. But once reading any of the 12 sources we looked at for this, I don’t think you can really blame Anthropic or their models for this.

Pure sensationalism.

When school shootings happen, do we see headlines like “Smith & Wesson M&P®15 AXE™ is behind the most recent crimes”?

No. If you saw that on the news, you’d be scratching your head.

Instead we see headlines that point towards the regulators.

Unfortunately, with every new invention there will be people that try to use it for evil.

Everything Else
🧠 You Need to Know

🏦 Malaysia launches Ryt Bank, its first AI-powered bank:

→ Their AI assistant can read and pay bills, track spending, and explain financial basics in plain terms.
🍭 READ FULL STORY HERE 🍭

🎬 A Taco Bell’s AI drive-thru plan gets caught up on trolls and glitches.:

→ They’re re-evaluating where to deploy AI as customers post complaints and vids of teenagers trolling on social media.
🍭 READ FULL STORY HERE 🍭

💾 MathGPT, the ‘cheat-proof’ AI tutor:

→ AI tutor and teaching assistant, expands to over 50 institutions. After successful pilot program at 30 colleges in the U.S., MathGPT is preparing to nearly double its availability this fall.
🍭 READ FULL STORY HERE 🍭

🛰️ Maisa AI gets $25M to fix enterprise AI’s 95% failure rate

→ $25 million seed round led by European VC firm Creandum, it has now launched Maisa Studio, a model-agnostic self-serve platform that helps users deploy digital workers that can be trained with natural language.
🍭 READ FULL STORY HERE 🍭

🧭 YC alumni pivoted → AI voice assistants for 911 call centers:

→ Research preview rolls out to ~1,000 Max subscribers, with sidecar chat, browser context, and limited action‑taking plus prompt‑injection defenses.
🍭 READ FULL STORY HERE 🍭

ToolBox™
🧰 5 AI Tools to Make Tasks Handle Themselves

🧃 Kuse — AI canvas workspace → Brainstorm and structure ideas on a visual canvas that clusters thoughts into shareable plans—notes that actually grow into projects.

👨‍🏫 ReadyBase — Prompt to PDF → Transform any input into a production-ready PDF. Create an output that’s ready to share, send, post or present.

☎️ Zoom — Virtual Agent for Zoom Phone → Route calls and capture intent with an AI receptionist, reducing missed connections and voicemail purgatory.

🎤 April — voice AI executive assistant → Voice-first executive assistant that schedules, drafts, and remembers context—delivers decisions and actions, not transcripts.

🗨️ Talkit AI — build voice/chat assistants → Launch a phone or chat assistant without wiring speech and LLM APIs yourself—use existing numbers or provision new lines.