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'AI companies were founded by white Europeans': Indian-origin co-founder shuts down author's remark with just 1 emoji

An author got community-noted on X after he claimed that Indians had not started any AI companies. An Indian cofounder reacted to the post.

Updated on: Dec 28, 2024, 09:22:13 IST
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Amid ongoing debates over reforms to the H-1B visa programme, an inflammatory remark about Indians and AI has caught the attention of Perplexity AI cofounder Aravind Srinivas. He reacted to a post where a man claimed that all the AI companies of “note” are founded by “white Europeans.” Further adding that “Indians can manage” an AI company but never start one.

A man claiming that only “white Europeans” and not Indians can be founders of AI companies has sparked outrage on social media. (Unsplash/Aidin Geranrekab)
A man claiming that only “white Europeans” and not Indians can be founders of AI companies has sparked outrage on social media. (Unsplash/Aidin Geranrekab)

The viral X post quickly got community-noted, with people pointing out that the claim was “factually incorrect.” It also mentioned Aravind Srinivas.

What did the community note say:

“Perplexity was founded by Aravind Srinivas an Indian. It has a valuation of $8B+ and 15M+ users. Abridge was founded by Dr. Shiv Rao an Indian American. The company has a valuation of $2.5B and serves 10k clinicians.”

Also Read: Is Elon Musk’s new Santa look because of Ozempic? Indian-origin CEO reacts to weight-loss pic

How did Aravind Srinivas react?

The Indian techie re-shared the post and used a single emoji to express his reaction. He shared the Face with Monocle emoticon. According to Emojipedia, the “yellow face with furrowed eyebrows wearing a monocle” shows that someone is “pondering, considering, or questioning something, sometimes with a sense of skeptical or ironic observation or encouraging a closer look at some content.”

Take a look at the post here:

Perplexity AI was co-founded by Aravind Srinivas, Johnny Ho, Denis Yarats and Andy Konwinski in 2022. Srinivas, who worked at OpenAI as an AI researcher, is the company's CEO.

Also Read: ‘I’m employed because an Indian immigrant’: American executive thanks Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas for job creation

Who is Aravind Srinivas?

An IIT Madras graduate, Srinivas started his career as a Research Intern at OpenAI, where he later returned to work as a researcher. He also did his internship with Google and Deepmind. In addition to being a cofounder of Perplexity, he is also an angel investor for several AI projects.

  • Trisha Sengupta
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Trisha Sengupta

    Trisha Sengupta is a Chief Content Producer at Hindustan Times with over six years of digital newsroom experience. Specialising in high-engagement storytelling, she blends viral trends with traditional journalism to cover the intersection of technology, finance, and human emotion. Her reporting spans real estate and personal finance struggles in hubs like Bengaluru and Gurgaon, the NRI experience, and corporate shifts like tech layoffs. Trisha also frequently tracks global figures and writes human interest stories. Offline, Trisha is an avid reader, history enthusiast and solo traveler. She balances her journalism career with family life while actively integrating AI tools into her modern storytelling approach.Read More