Meet Chennai techie set to guide Trump on all things AI tech

Chennai-born Sriram Krishnan is the latest addition to the growing list of Indian Americans appointed in the Trump 2.0 administration. He will serve as senior White House policy advisor for artificial intelligence (AI).

A graduate from SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST) in Tamil Nadu, Krishnan began his career at Microsoft and went on to work with big tech giants like Facebook (now Meta), Snap and Twitter (now X).

He was handpicked by billionaire Elon Musk to help with Twitter’s transition after his takeover of the microblogging platform in 2022.


The 41-year-old software engineer joined Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) as a general partner in 2021 and lead or worked on many investments at the firm in AI, consumer and crypto. He also engaged with various domestic and international stakeholders on AI policy while opening and running the firm’s UK office.

What else is he known for?

Krishnan is also an active investor and has backed several companies including SpaceX, Figma, Notion and Scale.ai among others. He is also an advisor to Indian fintech company Cred. He is known as the co-host of The Aarthi and Sriram Show, which he hosts with his wife Aarthi Ramamurthy. The podcast amassed a loyal following on the audio-only social media app Clubhouse during the pandemic and is available today across platforms. The podcast dives deep into understanding how various entrepreneurs and builders made it.

Why has Krishnan's appointment concerned some in the US?

Some Americans are questioning the implications of his appointment, particularly over his views on immigration and the expansion of the H-1B visa programme. One handle on X called US Tech Workers called it “a very questionable appointment” by Trump and said it was “Not America First at all,” as they believed that Krishnan was keen to remove country cap quotas for Green Cards and expand the H-1B programme. Such critics believe these moves may harm American workers and prioritise immigration over domestic interests.

Who are the other Indians/Indian Americans who will be part of the new Trump administration?

Among the Indians and Indian Americans who have been appointed are Chandigarh-born Harmeet Kaur Dhillon as the assistant attorney general (US Department of Justice), Kolkata-born Jay Bhattacharya as the director of National Institutes of Health, Kashyap Patel as the director of the FBI, Vivek Ramaswamy as the head of the Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Tulsi Gabbard as the director of National Intelligence. Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of vice president-elect JD Vance, will be the first Indian-origin second lady of the US.

Andrew NG tweeted: Sriram has been consistently thoughtful about AI policy, including specifically the importance of promoting open source. His working with @DavidSacks on AI will be good for innovation and good for the US. Thank you @sriramk for your service!

Sridhar Vembu @svembu: Congratulations Sriram! Back in 2004, when Sriram was graduating from SRM University, I came across his blog – one of the early programming blogs from India at that time. I was so impressed I wanted to recruit him, but Microsoft already had recruited him. We have been in touch on and off as he later moved to Silicon Valley and became an entrepreneur. President Trump has found a great talent for his technology team!