Business, Spoken Perplexity's Founder Was Inspired by Sundar Pichai. Now They’re Competing to Reinvent Search
Mar 22, 2024
A tale of rivalry and inspiration unfolds as Perplexity AI's founder vies with Sundar Pichai in the search tech arena. From childhood admiration in Chennai to AI startup creation, the competitive landscape and challenges of generative search technology are explored. Revenue models shift from subscriptions to ad integration, emphasizing precise targeting and user trust in the evolving search app development.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Egg Epiphany
- Aravind Srinivas, inspired by Sundar Pichai's breakfast habits, convinced his vegetarian mother to let him eat eggs.
- This anecdote highlights Pichai's influence on Srinivas, even in personal matters.
DeepMind Dreams and Rats
- While interning at DeepMind, Srinivas' London flat was infested with rats, forcing him to sleep in the office.
- This led him to discover "In the Plex," a book that deepened his admiration for Google.
Resource Rich, Freedom Poor
- Sundar Pichai has vast resources at Google, but his ability to experiment with search is limited by the need to protect ad revenue.
- Srinivas, at Perplexity, has more freedom to innovate in search due to less reliance on ad revenue.