In the fast-evolving world of artificial intelligence, few names have risen as quickly and convincingly as Aravind Srinivas, the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity AI. Known for his bold vision of creating a new kind of search engine—an “answer engine”—Srinivas is reshaping how we access and trust information online. From his early academic brilliance in Chennai to leading one of Silicon Valley’s most ambitious AI startups, his story is a mix of innovation, intelligence, and impact.
This blog takes you through Aravind Srinivas’s background, journey into AI, the creation of Perplexity, and how he’s changing the way we ask questions and find answers in a world flooded with data.
🎓 Early Life and Academic Brilliance
Aravind Srinivas was born in Chennai, India, and grew up with a passion for mathematics and science. He completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees (dual B.Tech & M.Tech) from IIT Madras, one of India’s most prestigious technical institutions. Though not originally a computer science student, his interests quickly moved toward artificial intelligence and deep learning.
At IIT Madras, Srinivas worked under the mentorship of Prof. Balaraman Ravindran, a prominent figure in reinforcement learning. His early work included projects involving Atari games and deep Q-learning, which gave him a strong foundation in neural networks and AI modeling.
🧪 Research and Doctorate at UC Berkeley
To further pursue his passion, Aravind moved to the United States and enrolled in a PhD program at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the world’s top AI research hubs. At Berkeley, he worked closely with Pieter Abbeel, a renowned AI researcher and professor known for his work in robotics and reinforcement learning.
His research covered a range of cutting-edge topics:
- Representation learning
- Transformers and language models
- Multi-agent systems
- Hierarchical reinforcement learning
During this time, he collaborated with global AI institutions and top researchers, further building a reputation as a brilliant mind in deep learning and large language models.
💼 Career Highlights: From OpenAI to Perplexity
Before launching his own venture, Aravind Srinivas worked with the who’s who of the AI world. Notably, he held research positions at OpenAI, where he contributed to early transformer-based model experiments—laying the groundwork for what would later become generative AI tools like GPT.
He also spent time at DeepMind and Google Brain, both highly influential in the development of cutting-edge AI systems. These experiences allowed him to understand not just the science behind AI but the challenges in scaling it safely, ethically, and accessibly.
🤖 Founding Perplexity AI: Answering the Internet’s Biggest Problem
In August 2022, Aravind Srinivas co-founded Perplexity AI with the goal of reinventing search. His core insight was this: search engines had become noisy, ad-driven, and often untrustworthy, making it harder for people to find accurate and concise information.
❓ What Is Perplexity AI?
Perplexity AI is positioned as an “answer engine”—not just a search engine. Instead of returning a list of links, it delivers direct answers sourced from credible references and updated in real-time. It uses large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT and its own fine-tuned models to synthesize clear, sourced, and interactive answers to users’ queries.
Key features:
- AI-powered Q&A format
- Always cites sources
- Real-time information retrieval
- No ads or SEO-driven manipulation
- Intuitive user experience
🌍 The Vision: Building Trustworthy AI for Everyone
Aravind’s vision is to create a “truth-first” AI assistant—a product that doesn’t hallucinate, mislead, or overwhelm users with too many options. In a digital world where misinformation and SEO gaming are rampant, Perplexity aims to rebuild trust in the internet.
“We want to make curiosity rewarding again,” he says. “Search should be a learning experience, not a scavenger hunt.”
🚀 Growth and Popularity
Despite launching quietly, Perplexity AI exploded in popularity in 2023 and 2024:
- Millions of active users across web and mobile
- Frequently trending on Product Hunt and Reddit
- Widely used by students, professionals, and researchers
- Became one of the top tools for fact-based search and citation
Its simplicity, source transparency, and reliability have helped it stand out in a crowded AI space. By 2025, it was seen as a serious alternative to Google, especially among people looking for ad-free, citation-based answers.
🧠 AI + Human Curiosity: Perplexity’s Unique Position
What makes Perplexity AI, and by extension Aravind Srinivas’s approach, so powerful is how it combines the scale of AI with human curiosity.
Unlike typical chatbots, Perplexity is designed to:
- Engage in deeper threads of thought
- Refine its answers based on feedback
- Let users “explore further” via citations
- Make fact-checking intuitive
This transforms the AI from a passive tool into an active learning partner—a concept that aligns with Aravind’s educational background and research in reinforcement learning.
💬 Influence in the AI Ecosystem
Aravind Srinivas is now recognized as one of the leading voices in applied AI. He regularly speaks about:
- The future of search in the AI era
- Safe and aligned language models
- Democratizing access to information
- The dangers of hallucinating AI systems
- Why AI must always be transparent
He emphasizes that AI should serve curiosity without bias, and that open, transparent AI is critical to preserving democratic access to knowledge.
📈 What’s Next?
Aravind Srinivas and the Perplexity AI team are reportedly working on:
- New enterprise integrations
- Multimodal search (images + text)
- Education-specific features
- Developer APIs
- Multilingual capabilities
With backing from top-tier investors and a rapidly growing user base, Perplexity is poised to be one of the few AI startups that directly challenges Google’s dominance in search.
🧩 Lessons from Aravind Srinivas
- Curiosity Leads to Innovation
Aravind turned his curiosity about how humans learn into a company that now helps millions learn better. - Transparency Builds Trust
By insisting on source citations and avoiding ads, he proved AI can be both smart and honest. - Bridging Academia and Industry
His deep academic grounding didn’t stop him from shipping real-world products. He turned theory into practice. - Stay Mission-Driven
In a field filled with hype, Aravind stayed focused on one mission: making knowledge accessible and reliable.
✍️ Final Thoughts
In a world where AI can generate endless information, Aravind Srinivas has chosen to prioritize truth, clarity, and learning. With Perplexity AI, he’s not just offering a new product—he’s offering a new philosophy of search: one where answers are clear, sources are cited, and curiosity is rewarded.
For students, researchers, journalists, or just the everyday curious mind, Srinivas’s work promises a smarter, cleaner, and more trustworthy internet. And in doing so, he may have built the most important AI company you’ve never heard of—yet.
