Perplexity, valued at around $1 billion, is in direct competition with xAI and OpenAI in the AI space. Despite having more users than xAI's premium chatbot service, Grok, Perplexity struggles to compete in recruitment due to xAI's higher valuation and Musk's reputation. Srinivas has previously faced similar challenges in hiring from tech giant Meta due to a lack of resources compared to larger companies.
Key takeaways:
- Aravind Srinivas, CEO of AI company Perplexity, finds it challenging to compete with Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, in recruiting AI talent due to the latter's higher valuation.
- OpenAI, another competitor, has a reported valuation of $80 billion, while Perplexity is valued at about $1 billion.
- Srinivas suggests that his company has more users than xAI's Grok, a chatbot available only to premium subscribers on the social media site X.
- Despite the challenges, Srinivas believes that his company should be considered in the same ballpark as Musk's companies, but acknowledges Musk's celebrity status as a significant hurdle.