Why VCs think consumer AI hasn’t lived up to the hype

This week on StrictlyVC Download, we’re sharing a conversation with Goodwater Capital founder Chi-Hua Chien and Scribble Ventures founder Elizabeth Weil. They discuss why consumer AI hasn’t lived up to the hype yet and what’s coming next. Beyond ChatGPT and Gemini, the consumer AI landscape feels sparse. In this conversation, they explore why we’re still in the “command line era” of AI, how form factors will unlock new use cases, and what it means to build AI-native products versus retrofitting existing platforms. They also dive into trust barriers, changing user behaviors, and why the next generation of founders needs to rethink everything from social networks to home maintenance.