IIT-Madras alum, who got ₹92 lakh Google offer in college, joins OpenAI after 10 years

Kavin Karthik, an IIT-Madras graduate, thanked Google for the opportunities. He recently joined ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. Sundar Pichai too studied at IIT-Madras.

An Indian-origin man, who was hired by Google straight out of IIT-Madras, has made the switch from the tech giant after over a decade, to join ChatGPT's parent company OpenAI.

Kavin Karthik, who worked at Google and recently joined OpenAI, studied at IIT-Madras. (X/@KavinIK)

Kavin Karthik will join OpenAI as a Member of the Technical Staff. The Santa Clara-based software engineer took to LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) to announce the new role.

"Google was more than a workplace; it was a crucible of growth and innovation that defined my 20s," he wrote.

"The opportunity to work alongside phenomenal leaders and teammates was nothing short of a privilege, and I'm profoundly grateful for the invaluable lessons and experiences gained."

OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman welcomed him to the artificial intelligence start-up.

"Welcome to the team," he wrote, to which Karthik responded with a thank-you note.

See the Indian-origin man's post on X:

Several users congratulated the engineer and wished him good luck for the new role.

Sam Altman, 38, is the CEO of OpenAI which is headquartered in San Francisco. Altman was briefly removed from the company last November, only to return days later with a new board that replaced the one that ousted him.

In 2013, Karthik was among three IIT-ians who got a Rs. 92 lakh salary placement offer from Google. At that time, the computer science student had expressed his excitement about Google's work culture and emphasis on work-life balance, in an interview with The Hindu. He did his schooling at Chennai's DAV Gopalapuram, according to the report.

The premier Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-Madras) is also the alma mater of Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Pichai, who spent his childhood in Chennai, got a degree in metallurgical engineering before going to Stanford University for a Master’s degree and an MBA from Wharton School.

This year, around 35 to 40 per cent of students at the top campuses of IITs have not been placed so far, even as the first phase of placement concluded at several campus, as per data compiled by the Global IIT Alumni Support Group, news agency ANI reported.

At IIT-Bombay, about 36% of students who registered for the 2024 placements, which is 712 of around 2,000 students, were yet to get a job. The placement season will officially end by May.