Perplexity AI CEO Challenges Nandan Nilekani's Vision for IndiaAI Strategy

Aravind Srinivas criticizes Nilekani's focus on AI applications over model training, pledging $1 million and support for India's AI advancement.

• Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity AI, publicly disagreed with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani's advice for Indian AI startups to prioritize practical applications over training large AI models.
• Srinivas praised Nilekani's contributions to India's tech ecosystem but emphasized the need for India to develop both AI applications and foundational model training skills.
• He argued that India risks falling behind globally if it avoids building proprietary AI models, particularly for Indic languages and global benchmarks.
• Srinivas pledged $1 million and five hours per week of his time to support a qualified team focused on advancing India's AI capabilities through model training.
• He also promised an additional $10 million investment if the team surpasses the achievements of China's DeepSeek in AI benchmarks, advocating for open-source models under an MIT license.

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