Aravind Srinivas, a recent PhD graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, has been making waves in the generative artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Despite his mother’s disappointment that he did not attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Srinivas found success as an intern at OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind on the west coast. These experiences led him to co-found Perplexity, a generative-AI startup recently valued at $1bn.
Srinivas is known for his disruption theory approach to business and culture. He notes the differences in culture between OpenAI and DeepMind and uses this knowledge to identify Alphabet’s vulnerability as Google’s parent company. However, instead of explaining how Perplexity’s business model will take on the search giant, Srinivas turns to “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton Christensen for inspiration. Along with other generative-AI sites like You.com, he sees potential in disrupting Google with innovations like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Despite some criticism that his argument is off the mark, Srinivas remains ambitious and aims to compete with Google search, one of the best business models of all time. His unassuming interview demeanor belies his ambition and determination to make a name for himself in the AI industry.