Eliza Labs’ AI-driven DAO, formerly ai16z, has officially rebranded to ElizaOS following concerns from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) over potential brand confusion.
The name change was announced by Eliza Labs founder Shaw Walters, who described it as part of a broader strategy to support the project’s global expansion and technological development.
“As we continue to expand across multiple countries, develop our core technology, and foster an incredible community of builders, we are implementing a comprehensive rebranding initiative to ElizaOS.,”
Walters stated on X.
Launched in October 2024, ai16z began as a “playful reference” to a16z, initially aiming to raise $75,000 to build an autonomous investor. However, the project quickly gained traction, becoming one of the most significant AI DAOs in the space.
Despite its success, the similarity between ai16z and a16z reportedly led to confusion, prompting Andreessen Horowitz to request a name change. Chris Dixon, managing partner at a16z, confirmed in an interview that they had asked the project to rebrand to avoid misunderstanding.
Walters emphasized that the rebranding opens new doors for collaboration with established industry players.
“Rebranding as ElizaOS opens exciting doors to collaboration with established players eager to leverage our groundbreaking tech,”
he wrote. Additionally, the team is developing Eliza v2, which Walters described as
“the most feature-rich agent framework ever created.”
Before the rebranding, ElizaOS had already made significant strides in technical development. On January 14, Sam Gao, an advisor at Andreessen Horowitz, announced the release of the technical whitepaper for Eliza, an open-source operating system for AI agents. The document lists Shaw Walters as the primary author, with contributions from multiple organizations. Despite the rebrand, the ai16z token—which will retain its ticker for now—has experienced a sharp decline. Over the past 24 hours, it dropped over 12% to $0.56, marking a 53% decline over the past week, according to CoinGecko.
If you want to read more news articles like this, visit DeFi Planet and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and CoinMarketCap Community.
“Take control of your crypto portfolio with MARKETS PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.”
