'Stop Me If You Can': Indian-Origin CEO Challenges Musk as He Plans to Raise $500M Through USAID

Washington: As the US administration moves to shut down USAID, calling it a waste of money and a corrupt agency, Indian-origin CEO Aravind Srinivas of AI search engine Perleppcity AI has challenged Tesla owner Elon Musk over the decision and said that we can raise billions with the federal agency chanlllenging Musk to stop him.

Srinivas took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, "Considering raising $500B from USAID. Funding secured. Stop me if you can @elonmusk." His post came just days after US President Donald Trump and Musk publicly supported shutting down the federal agency.  

The challenge from Srinivas has sparked a debate over the agency's role and funding. Meanwhile, a federal judge has temporarily halted the administration’s plan to place 2,200 USAID employees on paid leave, delaying the shutdown process.

Who Is Aravind Srinivas

Srinivas, an alumnus of IIT Madras, completed his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. He co-founded Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine, in 2022 along with Andy Konwinski, Denis Yarats, and Johnny Ho. The platform has received investments from major figures, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.  

Before launching Perplexity, Srinivas worked as a research intern at OpenAI and later held roles at tech giants like Google and DeepMind.