Aravind Srinivas
Aravind Srinivas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | June 7, 1994 |
| Citizenship | American |
| Education | IIT Madras (B.Tech, M.Tech), University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D.) |
| Occupation | CEO of Perplexity AI |
| Known for | Co-Founding Perplexity AI |
Aravind Srinivas (born 7 June 1994) is an Indian-American computer scientist and entrepreneur, best known as the CEO and co-founder of Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence company specializing in conversational search technologies.[1][2]
Early life and education
[edit]Srinivas was born in Chennai, India. He earned dual degrees (B.Tech and M.Tech) in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.[3] He later pursued a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley,[4] focusing on areas such as reinforcement learning, contrastive learning, and generative models.
Career
[edit]During his academic career, Srinivas held research positions at OpenAI, Google, and DeepMind, contributing to advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence.[5]
In 2022, he co-founded Perplexity AI alongside Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski. The company developed an AI-powered "answer engine" designed to provide direct, cited responses to user queries, distinguishing itself from traditional search engines.[6][7][8]
Under Srinivas's leadership, Perplexity AI has secured significant funding from investors including Jeff Bezos[9], Elad Gil, Nat Friedman,[10] and Nvidia.[11][12][13] The company has also announced partnerships aimed at expanding its AI applications into hardware, such as a collaboration with Deutsche Telekom to develop an AI-integrated smartphone.[14][15]
References
[edit]- ^ "Who Is Aravind Srinivas, the Founder and CEO Behind $9B Perplexity AI?". Observer. 2025-03-12. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ "Who Is Aravind Srinivas, CEO Who Has Challenged Elon Musk Over USAID". NDTV. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ "'I was depressed': Silicon Valley-based CEO on not getting admission in Computer Science at IIT Madras - 'I was depressed': Silicon Valley based CEO on not getting admission in Computer Science at IIT Madras BusinessToday". Business Today. 2024-03-01. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ "Berkeley alum wants to 'make the planet smarter'". Berkeley Engineering. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ "Event: The Future of AI with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas |…". Harvard Innovation Labs. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ "Report: Perplexity Business Breakdown & Founding Story | Contrary Research". research.contrary.com. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ Jackson, Amber (2024-06-09). "Perplexity AI: A Startup Backed by Billion-Dollar Investors". technologymagazine.com. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ Goode, Lauren. "Perplexity's Founder Was Inspired by Sundar Pichai. Now They're Competing to Reinvent Search". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ O'Brien, Matt. "Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity AI wants to upend search business". Fortune. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
- ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2024-04-23). "EXCLUSIVE: Perplexity is raising $250M+ at a $2.5-$3B valuation for its AI search platform, sources say". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ "Search startup Perplexity AI valued at $520 mln in funding from Bezos, Nvidia".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Temkin, Marina (2025-03-16). "Nvidia's AI empire: A look at its top startup investments". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ Thompson, Patrick (2024-01-05). "Nvidia and Jeff Bezos back Perplexity AI in $73.6M round". CoinGeek. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ "Who Is Aravind Srinivas, the Founder and CEO Behind $9B Perplexity AI?". Observer. 12 March 2025. Retrieved April 17, 2025.
- ^ Bagalkote, Kaustubh. "Jeff Bezos-Backed Perplexity Raises $500 Million, Tripling Its Valuation To $9 Billion As Competition With Google And OpenAI Heats Up - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)". Benzinga. Retrieved 2025-04-16.