Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas challenges Infosys co-founder’s views on AI development in India
Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas has publicly disagreed with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani’s stance on artificial intelligence, arguing that India must focus on both AI model training and real-world applications, reported ndtv.com.
Mr Srinivas, while praising Nilekani’s contributions to India’s technological progress, voiced concerns over his advice to Indian startups.
“To be clear: Nandan Nilekani is awesome, and he has done far more for India than any of us can imagine through Infosys, UPI, etc. But he’s wrong on pushing Indians to ignore model training skills and just focus on building on top of existing models. Essential to do both,” Mr Srinivas wrote on X.
Nilekani, speaking at the Meta AI Summit in October, advised Indian startups to avoid the costly endeavor of training large language models (LL), instead focusing on developing scalable, cost-efficient AI solutions. “Our goal should not be to build one more LLM. Let the big boys in the (Silicon) Valley do it, spending billions of dollars. We will use it to create synthetic data, build small language models quickly, and train them using appropriate data,” Nilekani had said.
Srinivas, however, argued that India risks missing out by assuming that AI model training is financially unfeasible. Drawing from his experience at Perplexity AI, he highlighted how misconceptions around high costs could limit India’s potential in AI innovation
“I feel like India is falling into the same trap I did while running Perplexity—assuming that training models will cost an exorbitant amount of money,” Srinivas said. He urged Indian startups to build proprietary AI capabilities rather than relying solely on open-source models, emphasizing the need for India to compete globally, particularly in Indic language AI development.
Referencing Elon Musk’s admiration for ISRO, Srinivas pointed out that India has a history of achieving technological breakthroughs with limited resources. “Elon Musk admired ISRO—not even Blue Origin—because he respects people who can achieve great things without excessive spending. That’s his operating philosophy,” he noted.
Srinivas concluded by calling for a paradigm shift in India’s AI strategy, advocating for a stronger focus on foundational AI model training to create global AI leadership. He also offered his support to those willing to take on this challenge, pledging to help open-source AI models for broader impact.
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