Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas recalls internship days: ‘Stayed in, worked hard, avoided Bengaluru traffic’ | Company Business News

Aravind Srinivas, chief executive officer (CEO) of Perplexity AI, has said that he barely ventured out during his internship days in Bengaluru.

He explained that he mostly spent his time at his Koramangala apartment, prioritising work over exploring the city.

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

“I just worked all the time. Looking back, maybe I should have explored Bangalore a bit more,” Srinivas said.

In the podcast, the Perplexity CEO spoke about a range of topics, including his IIT days in Chennai, his interest in AI and ML, his three-week internship in Bengaluru, and more.

Srinivas said one reason he didn’t explore Bengaluru much was its road traffic.

“I remember the traffic being bad back then, and I hear it’s even worse now. So, staying in and working was probably a smart move,” he said.

However, what stood out to him was the city’s weather. “It was awesome compared to Chennai.”

Aravind Srinivas’ AI & ML journey

He recalled his days at IIT Madras: “There was always this push to excel academically.”

His passion for machine learning (ML) started after he participated in a Kaggle competition. “That was my entry into AI. It wasn’t just about winning—it was about figuring out how machines learn from data.”

Speaking about work, Srinivas said: “I worked all the time, and I’m really proud of that. I enjoy it. It’s not about chasing some goal to scale—it’s just what I love doing.”

He said, “I love the intellectual challenge, learning new things, staying curious.”

During Kamath’s show, Srinivas recounted a memorable exchange with AI podcaster Lex Fridman, who quizzed him intensely on AI basics, neural networks, and even Google’s business model.

“I thought I had it all figured out, but he really put me to the test. I live for those kinds of conversations—they’re rare,” he added.

Emphasizing the value of asking questions, he quoted Confucius and said: “You might feel foolish for a moment when you ask, but you’ll be a fool forever if you don’t. I’m all for people asking questions.”

Perplexity to make pro-version of AI platform free for students

In February, Aravind Srinivas said that Perplexity is planning to roll out a pro version of its AI platform for students in India free of charge.

Perplexity has set a goal that no student should pay for its Pro plan but it is difficult to go for mass market rollout, Srinivas said during an online session with Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

“We are working with a student group on WhatsApp. We are aiming for close to a million sign-ups by mid-March. Our goal is to make sure that no student has to pay for a pro version of Perplexity anywhere in the world. If you put out a slogan, where knowledge begins, then you have to be serious about it. Knowledge matters most to the student. We want to bring it to India for students,” he said.