A social media exchange between Elon Musk and Aravind Srinivas, CEO of AI search engine Perplexity, generated considerable online buzz. Srinivas, who has been waiting for three years for a Green Card, asked on X (formerly Twitter), “I think I should get a green card. Wdyt?” To this, Musk’s concise, one-word reply, “Yes”.
Elon Musk’s answer to Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas drew considerable attention on X, formerly Twitter, prompting Srinivas to respond with a red heart and folded hands emoji.
Not the first time for Aravind Srinivas
Srinivas co-founded Perplexity in 2022 with Andy Konwinski, Denis Yarats, and Johnny Ho. The company, backed by investors like Jeff Bezos, utilizes AI in its search engine. Srinivas himself is an IIT Madras alumnus with a PhD from UC Berkeley. His background includes research internships at OpenAI, Google, and DeepMind, followed by a research scientist position at OpenAI before launching Perplexity.
Incidentally, this wasn’t the first recent interaction between Musk and Srinivas regarding the Green Card issue. Previously, Musk had commented on Srinivas’s wait, criticising the U.S. immigration system for making legal entry difficult for skilled individuals while seemingly easier for those entering illegally. He stated, “We have an upside-down system that makes it difficult for highly skilled individuals to enter the U.S. legally, while it’s almost effortless for criminals to do so illegally. Why is it easier for a murderer to cross the border unlawfully than for a Nobel Laureate to enter legally? @realDonaldTrump and DOGE will fix this,” referencing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).