This TED Talks Daily episode features an interview with Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine. Srinivas discusses the increasing involvement of academics in tech startups, particularly within the AI field, contrasting this with a recent study showing a decline in PhDs founding startups. He highlights how Perplexity, born from his own need for reliable answers, aims to provide trustworthy, source-cited answers to any question, thereby empowering users to ask even more insightful follow-up questions. The core argument is that AI, by democratizing access to answers, will enhance human curiosity and lead to a new era of knowledge creation. This is exemplified by Srinivas's own experience using the Perplexity bot to navigate the complexities of starting a business.
