Perplexity AI's Aravind Srinivas: 'Ready to invest $1 million personally' to make India great in AI

Perplexity AI co-founder and CEO Aravind Srinivas

Perplexity AI's Aravind Srinivas has announced that he is willing to invest  $1 million personally to work towards making India great in the field of AI (artificial intelligence). The Indian-origin CEO also said that he is willing to set aside five hours every week to work with the brightest minds to make this happen.

The announcement came days after Srinivas shared that he wanted to expand in India and would be hiring from the country.

"I am ready to invest a $1mm personally and 5 hours/week of my time into the most qualified group of people that can do this right now for making India great again in the context of AI," he wrote on X. "Consider this as a commitment that cannot be backtracked. The team has to be cracked and obsessed like DeepSeek team and has to open source the models with MIT license."

Srinivas has made it clear that Perplexity AI wants to strengthen its foothold in India, one of the largest internet user bases in the world.

Earlier this month, he wrote about a job opening on LinkedIn and said he was looking for candidates in India. “I am looking to recruit someone to work together on growing Perplexity in India. It will be fun and intense. You must be based in India and willing to travel and meet with strategic partners and institutions—scrappy startup mode,” Srinivas wrote.

He described the position as “fun and intense” and aligned with the company’s scrappy startup culture. Interested applicants are encouraged to email their resumes and highlight their exceptional achievements at india@perplexity.ai.