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Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas sparked a debate in the tech world by challenging Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani's view that India should focus on AI applications rather than developing its own foundational models.

Srinivas argued that India needs to build its own AI muscle, citing the example of China's DeepSeek.  To encourage this, he offered a USD 1 million grant and mentorship to anyone who takes up the challenge.  

Meanwhile, Perplexity launched Sonar, an API for AI search that prioritizes factuality by connecting to real-time web sources.  

Srinivas claims Sonar Pro surpasses Google's Gemini in factual accuracy while being more affordable. He also made Perplexity Pro free for IIT Madras students.   

Read the story:#AIInnovation #TechDebate #Perplexity #AIDevelopment #TechNews #StartupCulture #AIApplications #FoundationalModels #IITMadras #SonarAPI
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