Who is Sriram Krishnan, the Chennai techie chosen by Trump as AI advisor?

Sriram Krishnan is expected to shape the Trump administration's AI policy. In 2021, Krishnan and his wife Aarthi Ramamurthy gained recognition as the hosts of a podcast

Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American venture capitalist and entrepreneur, has been appointed by US President-elect Donald Trump as the Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence. Krishnan will work alongside ex-PayPal Chief Operating Officer (COO) David O Sacks, who has been nominated as the "White House AI and crypto czar."

 

Born in Chennai, Krishnan earned his BTech degree in Information Technology from SRM Engineering College in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. In 2005, he left for the US at the age of 21.

 

Sriram Krishnan's tech journey

 

Krishnan began his journey in the tech world with Microsoft in 2005. He later led product teams at major tech companies including X, Yahoo!, Facebook, and Snap.

 

In 2021, Krishnan and his wife Aarthi Ramamurthy gained recognition as the hosts of a podcast that was initially titled "Good Time Show" and later renamed to "The Aarthi and Sriram Show."

 

Until recently, Krishnan was a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). He joined the firm in February 2021 and was chosen to head its London office in 2023. He left the firm in late November.

 

Restructuring 'Twitter' post-Elon Musk's association

 

Krishnan is closely associated with Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The duo worked on restructuring Twitter (now rebranded as X) after Musk acquired the company in 2022. Musk now serves as co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), a policy group focused on making recommendations for government restructuring and reducing federal spending.

 

What will be Krishnan's role in the Trump administration?

 

Krishnan would be expected to shape the Trump administration's AI policy. In a statement, Trump stated that Krishnan will work on "ensuring continued American leadership in AI, and help shape and coordinate AI policy across Government, including working with the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology."

 

In an opinion piece published in The New York Times last year, Krishnan offered insight into his views on current AI trends. Writing on the controversy surrounding data licensing, Krishnan expressed hope that the solutions "lie in code rather than lawyers and that we see creative technology solutions to help keep the internet open.”

 

Indian-Americans in Trump's cabinet

 

Krishnan is not the only Indian-American in Team Trump. The US President-elect has picked scientist Jay Bhattacharya as the Director of the National Institutes of Health, the country's top health research institution. Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump’s rival-turned-ally, has been chosen to lead the Doge, alongside Elon Musk.

 

Lawyer Harmeet K Dhillon was nominated as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the US Department of Justice. Kash Patel will serve as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), making him the highest-ranking Indian-American in the Trump cabinet.