Draft:Aravind Srinivas
| Submission declined on 3 October 2025 by Caleb Stanford (talk). Consensus to delete article at AfD discussion. Not sufficient evidence that SIGCOV is met and I don't see a significant change in the state of the article from last time.
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| Submission declined on 17 April 2025 by Greenman (talk). This submission is not adequately supported by reliable sources. Reliable sources are required so that information can be verified. If you need help with referencing, please see Referencing for beginners and Citing sources. Declined by Greenman 5 months ago. | |
Comment: See WP:BLP. Statements, starting with the date of birth, need to be sourced or removed. Greenman (talk) 07:41, 17 April 2025 (UTC)
Aravind Srinivas | |
|---|---|
 Srinivas at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2024 | |
| Born | June 7, 1994 Chennai, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | IIT Madras (B.Tech, M.Tech), University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D.) |
| Occupation | CEO of Perplexity AI |
| Known for | Co-Founding Perplexity AI |
| Scientific career | |
| Thesis | Representation Learning for Perception and Control (2021) |
| Doctoral advisor | Pieter Abbeel |
Aravind Srinivas (born 7 June 1994) is an Indian computer scientist & businessperson who co-founded the American software company Perplexity AI, of which he is the chief executive officer.[1] He is the youngest Indian billionaire, with a net worth of around $2.4 billion.[2][3]
Srinivas was born on June 7, 1994 in Chennai.[4][5] He studied at IIT Madras and at University of California, Berkley.[4] Srinivas held research positions at OpenAI, Google Brain, and DeepMind focusing on machine learning and artificial intelligence.[6][7]
At 31 years old, Srinivas became the youngest Indian billionaire with a net worth of ₹21,190 crore ($2.4 billion).[2][8]
Time magazine named him one of the "TIME100 Most Influential People in AI".[9]
Early life & education
[edit]Srinivas was born on June 7, 1994 in Chennai.[10][11] His father was an accountant and his mother works in the central government.[12] He earned dual degrees (B.Tech and M.Tech) in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.[10] He later pursued a PhD in computer science at the University of California, Berkeley.[13]
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
[edit]In 2017, Srinivas graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Madras with dual degrees (B.Tech and M.Tech) in electrical engineering.[14] During his time there, he developed a keen interest in machine learning and artificial intelligence through interactions with friends in the computer science department and guidance from Professor Balaraman Ravindran.[15] He attempted to switch his major to computer science but was unsuccessful, missing the required GPA by 0.01 points.[citation needed] However, he continued to self-learn computer science topics, including Python and machine learning.[citation needed] While at IIT Madras, Srinivas also taught courses on reinforcement learning as a teaching assistant.[16] In 2015, he received the IUSSTF-Viterbi Program Fellowship.[citation needed]
University of California, Berkeley
[edit]After graduating, Srinivas pursued a PhD in computer science at University of California, Berkeley, finishing in 2021.[14] His doctoral research covered contrastive learning for computer vision, reinforcement learning, and transformer-based models.[16] During his PhD, he taught "Deep Unsupervised Learning" and published research in ICLR, AAAI, and NeurIPS.[15] He interned under Yoshua Bengio during his studies.[citation needed]
Career
[edit]Aravind Srinivas began his career in artificial intelligence research, contributing to projects at organizations such as Google Brain, DeepMind, and OpenAI. His academic work at the University of California, Berkeley, where he pursued a Ph.D. in Computer Science under the supervision of Pieter Abbeel, focused on deep learning and natural language processing.[6][7]
In 2022, Srinivas co-founded Perplexity AI, a company developing AI-powered search tools that integrate large language models with real-time web data. He assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer. The company gained attention for its conversational search interface, which emphasizes cited sources and transparency in information retrieval.[2][3] By 2025, it served 30 million global users and processed 780 million monthly queries.[17]
In an interview with Forbes, Srinivas said that his first start-up idea was about lossless compression with generative models, inspired by the TV series Silicon Valley, “The particular idea, in that [Silicon Valley] TV show, that was explored was around lossless compression, which is very directly generative AI, they also talked a lot about how you can use neural nets. So that was actually the idea I really wanted to start up first on: lossless compression with generative models."[18]
Under his leadership, Perplexity AI attracted investment from several prominent venture capital firms and technology leaders. By 2025, the company had expanded its user base and product offerings, and Srinivas was listed on the M3M Hurun India Rich List as one of the youngest billionaires in India.[19][20][21][22]
In an interview with the Economic Times, he called Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, a "phenomenal CEO and coach", adding, "Yes, Microsoft has Copilot and we may compete, but he (Nadella) looks at the big picture. If Perplexity succeeds and we can do business together, that is fine".[23]
Personal life
[edit]Srinivas is an Indian Citizen. In December 2024, Srinivas stated that he had been waiting for a US green card for nearly three years.[24] His tweet asking whether he should get a green card was responded to by Elon Musk with a 'yes', which sparked debate on US immigration,[25] he later said "Silicon Valley has always been welcoming to outsiders. The key challenge for someone coming from abroad is trust, finding credible people who will vouch for you, invest in you and mentor you, even if they might compete with you later. Despite immigration hurdles, this is one of the few places in the world that is absolutely meritocratic. If users love your product and the data shows it, people support you," when talking about the $100,000 H1-B visa sponsorship fee imposed by Donald Trump in 2025.[26]
In an interview with Nikhil Kamath, Srinivas said he was the first engineer in his family.[27][28]
When talking about academia in an interview with Forbes, he said that his parents are "prouder of his PhD than his business track record", and noted that, "The value of a college education is intangible,"[18]
Srinivas is married.[27] In an interview he said, "Sometimes when things are going well like you might feel like you are on the top of the world and someone has to bring you back to earth and say, ‘Hey calm down. You have nothing figured out yet’. My wife does that for me." [29]
In a 2025 interview with the Economic Times about H1-B visa restrictions, Srinivas said “I am from India, and I want to show we can build companies, not just manage them."[30]
References
[edit]- ^ Peluso, Olivia (2025-03-12). "Who Is Aravind Srinivas, the Founder and CEO Behind $9B Perplexity AI?". Observer. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ a b c "Who is Aravind Srinivas? Perplexity CEO youngest among India's billionaires- Check how much wealth he has". The Times of India. 2025-10-02. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ a b "'Chennai boy' Aravind Srinivas becomes India's youngest billionaire with Perplexity AI's global surge".
- ^ a b Adhikary, Mukesh (2024-03-01). "'I was depressed': Silicon Valley-based CEO on not getting admission in Computer Science at IIT Madras". Business Today. 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.
- ^ a b "Event: The Future of AI with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas |…". Harvard Innovation Labs. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ a b Love, Julia; Anand, Priya (2023-03-28). "AI Search Startup Raises $26 Million to Offer Rival to Google". Bloomberg News.
- ^ Lacsina, Nathaniel (2025-10-02). "From Chennai to Silicon Valley: Meet Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas, India's youngest billionaire". Gulf News: Latest UAE news, Dubai news, Business, travel news, Dubai Gold rate, prayer time, cinema. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ Perrigo, Billy (2024-09-05). "TIME100 AI 2024: Aravind Srinivas". TIME. Retrieved 2025-06-23.
- ^ a b Adhikary, Mukesh (2024-03-01). "'I was depressed': Silicon Valley-based CEO on not getting admission in Computer Science at IIT Madras". Business Today. 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.
- ^ Sharma, Swastika Das (2025-03-26). "'You're Tamilian, right?' Nikhil Kamath shocked as Aravind Srinivas reveals he is the first engineer of his family | Company Business News". mint. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ Ellery, Marni (2025-03-10). "Berkeley alum wants to 'make the planet smarter'". Berkeley Engineering. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ a b "Aravind Srinivas educational qualification and career path: how this IIT Madras graduate became Perplexity CEO". The Times of India. 20 July 2025.
- ^ a b "Founder Story: Aravind Srinivas of Perplexity AI". Frederick AI. 20 February 2025.
- ^ a b "Meet India's Youngest Billionaire. His Net Worth Is Rs..." NDTV. 30 September 2025.
- ^ "India's youngest billionaire is an AI founder; From IIT..." The Indian Express. 2 October 2025.
- ^ a b Werner, John. "Aravind Srinivas On Academia, Lossless Compression, And More". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
- ^ Yadav, Aakanksha (2025-10-02). "Meet the Chennai Boy Who Became India's Youngest Billionaire at 31 with an AI Startup". The CSR Journal. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ "Hurun India Rich List 2025: Aravind Srinivas youngest billionaire; check full details". Wion. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ "Who Is Aravind Srinivas, India's Youngest Billionaire On M3M Hurun India Rich List 2025?". News18. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ Bhati, Divya (2025-10-01). "Meet Aravind Srinivas, founder and CEO of Perplexity, who is India's youngest billionaire now". India Today. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ "Satya Nadella more than a tech titan, a mentor too: Perplexity's Aravind Srinivas". The Economic Times. 2025-10-02. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ "Perplexity AI CEO says "still haven't gotten" a green card amid immigration debate ahead of U.S. Presidential Election 2024". The Hindu. 2024-11-01. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2025-06-04.
- ^ "Indian-origin CEO asks 'Should I get a green card?' on X; Elon Musk's reply sparks debate on US immigration". The Times of India. 2024-12-16. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
- ^ "Preplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas: The biggest challenge for immigrants is not increase in H-1B visa fee, but finding people who they can …". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ a b Sharma, Swastika Das (2025-03-26). "'You're Tamilian, right?' Nikhil Kamath shocked as Aravind Srinivas reveals he is the first engineer of his family | Company Business News". mint. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ Nikhil Kamath (2025-03-23). Nikhil Kamath ft. Perplexity CEO, Aravind Srinivas | WTF Online Ep 1. Retrieved 2025-10-03 – via YouTube.
- ^ Nikhil Kamath (2025-03-23). Nikhil Kamath ft. Perplexity CEO, Aravind Srinivas | WTF Online Ep 1. Retrieved 2025-10-03 – via YouTube.
- ^ "'My mom wanted me at Google,' says Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, calls 'Indians better founders'". FE Tech Bytes. 2025-10-02. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
External links
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