Who is Aravind Srinivas ?

Introduction

Aravind Srinivas, born in 1994 in Chennai, India, is an Indian-American computer scientist and entrepreneur. He completed his B.Tech and M.Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in 2017. Later, he pursued a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

Throughout his career, Srinivas has worked with leading AI organizations, including OpenAI, DeepMind, and Google, contributing to significant advancements in AI research. In August 2022, he co-founded Perplexity AI, aiming to revolutionize the search engine landscape by integrating AI to provide more intuitive and user-friendly search experiences.

Main Achievements

At OpenAI, Srinivas worked on language and diffusion generative models, including the development of DALL-E 2, a system capable of generating realistic images from textual descriptions.

As the CEO of Perplexity AI, he leads the development of AI technologies that challenge traditional search engines. Under his leadership, Perplexity AI has grown rapidly, attracting investments from notable figures and companies, and is now valued at over $500 million.

A Surprising Fact

Despite his current success, Srinivas faced challenges during his academic journey. He initially failed to switch from Electrical Engineering to Computer Science at IIT Madras by a negligible percentage point, which left him depressed. However, he persevered and eventually made significant contributions to the field of AI.