• President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American entrepreneur, as the Senior White House Policy Advisor on AI.
• Krishnan, a tech industry veteran, has worked with major tech companies like Twitter, Microsoft, Facebook, and Snap.
• In his new role, Krishnan will work with David Sacks, the White House AI & Crypto Czar, to shape and coordinate AI policy across government.
• Krishnan's appointment is seen as a significant step towards ensuring continued American leadership in AI.

In a recent announcement that has stirred the tech and political world alike, President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Indian-American entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan as the Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence (AI). This appointment is part of a series of strategic moves by Trump focused on AI advancements. Sriram Krishnan, a name well-known in the tech industry, has an impressive background. He has worked with tech giants like Twitter, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo!, and Snap.

Born in Chennai, India, Krishnan moved to the United States after completing his graduation. He started his career at Microsoft as a founding member of Windows Azure, a cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers. Krishnan's journey in the tech industry has been nothing short of remarkable. After his stint at Microsoft, he joined Facebook in 2013 to lead its product and business verticals.

Sriram Krishnan: A Tech Industry Veteran

He also had a brief stint at Snapchat in 2016 for a year before he joined Twitter (now X) in 2017. At Twitter, Krishnan led several core consumer product teams and helped drive Twitter's DAV growth. In his new role as the Senior Policy Advisor for AI, Krishnan will work closely with David Sacks, who has been designated as the White House AI & Crypto Czar. The duo will focus on ensuring continued American leadership in AI and help shape and coordinate AI policy across government. This includes working with the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Krishnan's appointment has been widely applauded by the Indian-American community, recognising his contributions to technology and leadership. Apart from being a seasoned tech leader, Krishnan is also a venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. Together with his wife, Aarthi Ramamurthy, he co-hosted The Aarthi and Sriram Show, a podcast centred on various aspects of startups, which gained significant popularity within the entrepreneurial community.

Krishnan's Journey and Future Endeavors

In February 2021, Krishnan joined Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) as a general partner. He later led the firm's London office in 2013. However, he exited the firm in late November. In 2022, Krishnan collaborated with Elon Musk on restructuring Twitter following Musk's acquisition of the platform. He is also credited with helping former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reconnect with Elon Musk after the latter's nomination to the proposed Department of Government Efficiency.

Krishnan has also been an investor/advisor in multiple firms, including Figma, Notion, Cameo, Coda, Scale.ai, SpaceX, CRED among others. He reportedly shares a close relationship with billionaire Elon Musk, with whom he teamed up when the latter acquired Twitter in 2022. Previously, Krishnan advocated for a more innovative and technology-centric strategy to resolve conflicts between major internet platforms and AI-driven models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Following the announcement of his appointment, Krishnan expressed his gratitude on X, posting, I'm honoured to be able to serve our country and ensure continued American leadership in AI working closely with David Sacks. This sentiment was echoed by the Indian-American community and the tech industry at large, who are upbeat about Krishnan's appointment.