Confused AI CEO Aravind Srinivas recalls internship day: “Stay here, work hard and avoid traffic in Bangalore”

Perplexity AI CEO (CEO) Aravind Srinivas said he had little risk during his internship in Bangalore.

He explained that he spent time primarily in Koramangala apartments, prioritizing his work over exploring the city.

Srinivas shared these insights on Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s podcast “WTF is”?

“I’ve been working all the time. Looking back, maybe I should explore Bengaluru again,” Srinivas said.

In the podcast, the confusion CEO talked about a range of topics, including his IIT era in Chennai, his interest in AI and ML, his three-week internship in Bangalore, and more.

Srinivas said one of the reasons he did not explore Bengaluru is road traffic.

He said: “I remember the traffic was bad at that time, and I heard it’s worse now.

But for him, the weather in the city is the most prominent. “It’s great compared to Chennai.”

Aravind Srinivas’s AI & ML Journey

He recalled his time at IIT Madras: “There is always an effort to do so to stand out academically.”

His passion for machine learning (ML) began after he competed in Kaggle. “That’s what I went into AI. It’s not just about winning, it’s about figuring out how machines learn from data.”

Speaking about work, Srinivas said: “I’ve been working all the time and I’m very proud of it. I love it. It’s not about chasing some goals to expand on – that’s what I love to do.”

“I like intellectual challenges, learning new things, staying curious,” he said.

During Kamath’s performance, Srinivas tells a memorable exchange with AI Podcaster Lex Fridman, who queried him strongly under the business model of AI fundamentals, neural networks and even Google.

He added: “I thought I had figured it out, but he did get me tested. I live for these types of conversations – they’re rare.”

Emphasizing the value of asking questions, he quoted Confucius and said, “You may feel stupid when you ask, but if you don’t, you will always be a fool. I’m all about asking questions.”

Confusion about providing AI platform for students for free

In February, Aravind Srinivas said Pleplexity plans to launch a professional version of its AI platform for Indian students for free.

Srinivas said in an online meeting with Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm, that confusion sets the goal that no student should pay for their career plans, but it is difficult to mass-market promotion.

“We are working with a student body. Our goal is to get close to a million registrations by mid-March. Our goal is to make sure no students have to pay for a career version anywhere in the world. If you launch a slogan where the knowledge starts, then we have to take it seriously.