Four years ago, you were wrapping up a PhD. You now run a $20 billion startup. It must be quite the change. Your reflections on your journey over the last few years?

The thing about working as an academic is you’re constantly trying to ask new questions and publish the answers. But why? The reason you do that is so, in the future, new researchers can find your work and keep asking new questions. Because the search for wisdom is bigger than any one person. It’s eternal. That ended up being why we built Perplexity. How do we take the magic of what’s happening in the elite universities and use technology to make it available to anyone?

It worked. Perplexity is more popular than I ever imagined. That has all kinds of challenges, though. Every day I’m managing the biggest company I’ve ever managed, because it’s bigger than it was yesterday. I’ve learned that most people who criticise what you are doing aren’t doing anything themselves. So who cares? This is one of the differences between being a founder and a manager. As a founder, if anyone else on earth had your idea and your commitment, then they would have already built it. But they didn’t. So why listen to anyone else about what you should do? You have to trust yourself, you have to be tough, and you have to get better and smarter every day.

2. One of the most interesting things Perplexity has done is challenge Google’s near total dominance over search. Could you tell us a little about your plans for Perplexity? Also, what does it take to go up against a titan of the industry like Google, which you decided to do when you were 27?

It takes courage, and conviction. VC’s will give you money for anything, except when you tell them you’re going to compete with one of the largest companies on earth. So you have to show them a good product, and you also have to show them that you personally are tough, committed, and capable.

Again, this is a difference between a manager and a founder. To be a great manager and lead a trillion dollar company, you must have a strong mind. To be a great founder you must have courage, which is a strong mind, strong heart, and strong vision. You have to see something no one else can, and you have to be able to tell them why it matters. What I saw is that Google needed a challenger, it was overdue. How would technology ever get better if no one was brave enough to try?

3. You were recently recognised as India’s youngest billionaire. Part of the changes of the last few years must have been recognising that you’re now a public figure. How do you feel about the challenges that come with that sort of fame?

I don’t think about it. I live a simple life and focus on my work, it brings me joy. When people think about their fame or their money, they are near the end of their journey. I am only at the beginning. Perplexity is 3 years old, and we are constantly learning and getting better every day. When people ask what Perplexity is for, I remind them the search for wisdom is more important than the search for wealth. I follow the same philosophy for my own career. Fortunately, great wealth usually follows great wisdom, but almost never the other way around.

4. We’ve gotten to the point where hundreds of millions of people globally have integrated AI into how they live and work. Where do you see AI going in the next 5 years, in terms of how it transforms how we live and work?

AI will be broadly transformative in ways we can’t yet imagine. It might be easier to ask “what will stay the same?”

First, I think we still matter to each other. AI companions may be popular now, but human connection is very important.

Second, I think that we will always ask more questions. The more we can learn from AI, the better. Because we will always have a question AI can’t answer, and we’ll go answer it. That’s how the world advances. It’s the scientific process. Humans, as a species, are very curious.

5. There’s also a lot of economic anxiety around AI, especially in a country like India. On the one hand, there are lots of projections about how AI will unlock transformative growth. On the other, there are concerns about job losses. Your views on this?

Every great transition in history has created this fear, but we always adapt and advance. How? It’s the same way every time: through learning. Education. Increasing our knowledge, which increases the things we can do. With any new technology of automation, there is a risk of some temporary job loss, but we’ve proven throughout history that we adapt and do more. The only thing that’s different this time is that the technology changing the world is also very good at helping us learn. So I’m optimistic.

6. Today, the US and China seem determined to clash for dominance in cutting edge technologies, particularly AI. That obviously has implications for how you do business. Do you see these geopolitical battles over tech hurting innovation?

If you wait for the perfect geopolitical climate or economic situation to build a company, you will wait forever. It’s better to just get to work and focus on your vision. That’s what we’re doing.

Our vision happens to be that accurate AI will only get more important for powering the world’s curiosity. That vision works well in any regulatory environment, so we don’t spend time worrying about politics.

7. You’ve taken a big bet on India through your partnership with Airtel. India is also a large source of users for you and other players like OpenAI. What is your play in India in the years to come?

India is special to me personally for obvious reasons. But as a company, we say “here’s a country that sees the world the same way we do.” Which means, India values education and the search for wisdom. So it’s natural that our products will be popular there, since anything we build is going to come from this same philosophy.

8. What do you make of the Indian government’s efforts to build out a sovereign model for India and generally position India as a real player in AI? What could India be doing better?

Your question is telling. You say, “What could India be doing better?” I think what India is doing great is asking that question. Because you never stop asking that question. And that is the key to success–as a person, as a company, or as a country. If you always ask what you could be doing better, and you try and you learn, you’ll always be getting better.

9. There’s some concern about the buildup of an investment bubble in AI and what a bust in the sector will mean for the broader economy given the massive sums of money being spent on building out data centres for example. Your view?

Search has survived every bubble, so we’re not concerned. Our product is useful. People make money using Perplexity, they build products and companies with Perplexity. They get smarter with Perplexity. All these things matter regardless of a bubble, and they matter more after it pops.