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Aravind Srinivas

What Aravind Srinivas thinks about Google

@aravind-srinivas · 20 positions · 0 changes of mind

Co-founder and CEO of Perplexity, an AI answer engine; previously a research scientist at OpenAI and a PhD student at UC Berkeley.

Aravind Srinivas did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

4 dated positions, 2024, in their own words. Our reading of what Aravind Srinivas has said — not written or endorsed by them.

4 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

  1. Our readingThe way to make a dent in search is not to do what Google does better, but to do the thing Google does not want to do.

    Their wordsWe would rather take a more dramatic position, that the best way to actually make a dent in the search space is to not try to do what Google does, but try to do something they don’t want to do. For them to do this for every single query is a lot of money to be spent, because their search volume is so much higher.

    ↗Aravind Srinivas: Perplexity CEO on Future of AI, Search & the Internet | Lex Fridman Podcast #434youtube.com 1st of 20 in this recording

  3. Our readingA startup does not have to set out to build the greatest business in history; a merely good business is a legitimate thing to aim at.

    Their wordsYou can set out to build a good business and it’s still fine. Maybe the long-term business model of Perplexity can make us profitable in a good company, but never as profitable in a cash cow as Google was. You have to remember that it’s still okay.

    ↗Aravind Srinivas: Perplexity CEO on Future of AI, Search & the Internet | Lex Fridman Podcast #434youtube.com 2nd of 20 in this recording

    startups

  5. Our readingGoogle's weakness is its own margins: it cannot go aggressively after anything less profitable than a link click, which is exactly where a challenger should attack.

    Their wordsWhat is the weakness of Google is that any ad unit that’s less profitable than a link, or any ad unit that kind of disincentivizes the link click is not in their interest to go aggressive on, because it takes money away from something that’s higher margins.

    ↗Aravind Srinivas: Perplexity CEO on Future of AI, Search & the Internet | Lex Fridman Podcast #434youtube.com 3rd of 20 in this recording

  7. Our readingOnce a language model reads the results, search can trade precision for recall, because the model does not care that the right link came ninth.

    Their wordsIn Google, even though we call it 10 blue links, you get annoyed if you don’t even have the right link in the first three or four. The eye is so tuned to getting it right. LLMs are fine. You get the right link maybe in the 10th or ninth. You feed it in the model. It can still know that that was more relevant than the first.

    ↗Aravind Srinivas: Perplexity CEO on Future of AI, Search & the Internet | Lex Fridman Podcast #434youtube.com 15th of 20 in this recording

    LLMs