Y Combinator Startup Podcast Aravind Srinivas: The Race to Build the AI Browser of the Future
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Jul 11, 2025 
Aravind Srinivas, co-founder of Perplexity, an innovative AI-powered search engine, shares his vision for the future of browsing. He dives into the challenges of building an AI browser in a tech-dominated landscape, emphasizing the importance of speed and accuracy. Srinivas discusses the shift from traditional search tools to advanced AI capabilities and the strategic partnerships fostering growth. He also addresses the evolving business models in AI, encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs to innovate and stay adaptable while navigating the competitive terrain.
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AI Browser as Cognitive OS
- Perplexity is evolving from a search tool into an AI-powered browser acting as a cognitive operating system.
- This browser will handle multiple tasks asynchronously, integrating personal data and web research seamlessly.
From SQL Search to Web Scale
- Perplexity began as a natural language to SQL tool for searching Twitter data concepts.
- The team realized scaling across the entire web was crucial, moving beyond structured tables to unstructured data and language models.
Browser Agents Enable Complex AI Tasks
- AI assistants on browsers can perform complex, multi-step tasks like filtering event attendees or managing emails.
- This browser-agent integration aims to enable AI as a personal assistant handling asynchronous tasks.