Who Is Aravind Srinivas, CEO Who Has Challenged Elon Musk Over USAID?

Photo : AFP

New Delhi: Aravind Srinivas, the Indian-origin CEO of Perplexity AI, is once again making headlines. This time, he has taken a direct jab at Tesla’s Elon Musk over funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Mr. Srinivas wrote:

"Considering raising $500B from USAID. Funding secured. Stop me if you can @elonmusk What is USAID?"

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His post came just days after former US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk suggested shutting down the federal agency. The statement also followed a recent legal decision where a federal judge temporarily blocked the US government's plan to place 2,200 USAID workers on paid leave.

Who Is Aravind Srinivas?
Aravind Srinivas is the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence-driven search engine that aims to rival Google. The startup, founded in 2022, has received backing from major investors, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.

Mr. Srinivas studied at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras before moving to the United States to complete his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley.

His career began as a research intern at OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. He then went on to work in similar roles at Google and DeepMind. Eventually, he returned to OpenAI as a research scientist before launching Perplexity AI alongside co-founders Andy Konwinski, Denis Yarats, and Johnny Ho.

With his bold online presence and cutting-edge AI venture, Aravind Srinivas is quickly becoming a well-known name in the world of technology.