White House AI Policy Advisor Sriram Krishnan Leaving the Post

Sriram Krishnan, Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence, has announced he will step down at the end of June 2026 after an 18‑month tenure shaping President Donald Trump’s AI agenda. He plans to take a short break before working on major AI challenges outside government.

Krishnan later confirmed his decision in a post on X. Krishnan is planning to start a policy institute that will support the administration’s AI plans, according to people familiar with the matter.

It was in December 2024 when Krishnan was appointed as Senior Policy Advisor for AI by President-elect Donald Trump.

Krishnan, who is an alumnus of Chennai's Anna University, has had an important role in shaping U.S. AI policy highlight the growing influence of Indian-origin executives in global technology governance. His departure comes as Washington intensifies AI policy efforts, including cybersecurity frameworks and potential public‑private partnerships.

Key Facts About His Departure

• Announcement Date: June 6–7, 2026, via social media posts.
• End of Tenure: Scheduled for end of June 2026.
• Reason Given: No specific reason cited; he emphasized continuing to tackle “large challenges facing America on AI” after a break.
• Role in Policy: Architect of the American AI Action Plan and contributor to the National AI Policy Framework.
• Political Context: His exit comes amid Trump administration discussions about potential government stakes in AI companies.

Contributions During Tenure

• AI Action Plan: Reduced regulatory barriers, accelerated data center expansion, and limited state-level AI regulations.
• National AI Policy Framework: Helped unify federal approaches to AI governance.
• International Engagements: Represented the U.S. at AI summits in Europe, India, and the Middle East.
• Executive Orders: Supported Trump’s orders curbing state AI regulation and promoting voluntary cybersecurity testing of advanced AI models.

Reactions & Next Steps

• Praise from Colleagues: David Sacks lauded Krishnan’s “unique combination of technical fluency and policy instincts.”
• Industry Support: Elon Musk publicly backed Krishnan’s role and thanked him for his service.
• Future Plans: Krishnan intends to build institutions to address AI challenges for the U.S. and its allies.

Indian-Origin Entrepreneur Appointed As Trump's Senior AI Policy Advisor

Sriram Krishnan, an alumnus of Chennai's Anna University, has been appointed as the Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence (AI) by President-elect Donald Trump.

Krishnan, an Indian-American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, will play a key role in shaping AI policies across multiple government sectors. He brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles at companies like Microsoft, Twitter, and Facebook. Krishnan expressed his honor at the appointment and his commitment to ensuring continued American leadership in AI.

Currently a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Krishnan previously led product and engineering efforts at Twitter, Meta and Microsoft. He will work closely with David Sacks, who has been named the White House AI and Crypto Czar.

Krishnan's background is impressive. He has held leadership roles at major tech companies like Microsoft, Twitter, and Facebook. He was a founding member of the Windows Azure team at Microsoft and has been a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz.

Krishnan and his wife, Aarthi Ramamurthy, co-host a podcast called "The Aarthi and Sriram Show," where they explore technology, entrepreneurship, and culture. His appointment has been widely applauded, with many praising his ability to blend public policy, international affairs, and technology.

Sriram Krishnan earned his Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Information Technology from SRM Engineering College, which is affiliated with Anna University in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

It's quite an impressive journey from SRM Engineering College to becoming a senior policy advisor on AI!

India-Born Gopi Thotakura Becomes 1st Indian To Go To Space As A Tourist

In a historic moment, India-born Gopi Thotakura's participation in the Blue Origin's New Shepard-25 (NS-25) mission marks a significant milestone as he becomes the first Indian citizen to travel to space as a tourist.

The mission, which included a diverse crew, successfully completed its 25th flight, contributing to the advancement of commercial space travel. It's inspiring to see individuals like Gopi Thotakura and the rest of the crew, including the notable former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, partake in such pioneering journeys. This event not only represents a personal achievement for the crew members but also signifies the growing accessibility of space travel for civilians.

Gopi is a pilot and aviator, and a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He’s co-founder of Preserve Life Corp, a global center for holistic wellness and applied health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

 

The NS-25 Crew (from left to right) : Gopi Thotakura, Mason Angel, Carol Schaller, Ed Dwight, Ken Hess, and Sylvain Chiron.

Andhra Pradesh born Gopi knows flying jets commercially and he pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot. Gopi is from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh who later settled in US. He took pilot training there and piloted many commercial jets, skyplanes and air ambulances.

 

The duration of Gopi Thotakura's Blue Origin space flight is not explicitly mentioned in the Blue Origin's press release. However, typical suborbital flights with Blue Origin's New Shepard last approximately 11 minutes from launch to capsule landing. This includes a few minutes of weightlessness in space.

The NS-25 mission marks the seventh human spaceflight for the New Shepard program and the 25th in its history, further advancing the possibilities of commercial space travel.

Blue Origin's New Shepard program is a significant venture in the field of commercial space travel aka Space Tourism. Named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space, the New Shepard is a fully reusable suborbital rocket system designed from the outset for human flight.

The system is capable of vertical takeoff and landings, providing an 11-minute journey that takes astronauts past the Kármán line, which is the internationally recognized boundary of space at 100 km/62 miles above Earth.

The crew capsule is pressurized and features large windows, offering each space-tourist a window seat and the opportunity to experience several minutes of weightlessness and breathtaking views of Earth.

The New Shepard program has successfully completed multiple missions, including the recent NS-25 mission, marking its seventh human spaceflight and the 25th flight overall for the program. This milestone reflects Blue Origin's ongoing efforts to build a road to space for the benefit of Earth, making space more accessible for research, technology development, and tourism.

AMD Acquiring Indians Founded Nod.ai, An Open-Source AI Software Startup

Nod.ai to bolster AMD open-source software strategy

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), a California, US based multinational semiconductor company today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Nod.ai to expand the company’s open AI software capabilities. The addition of Nod.ai will bring an experienced team that has developed an industry-leading software technology that accelerates the deployment of AI solutions optimized for AMD Instinct™ data center accelerators, Ryzen™ AI processors, EPYC™ processors, Versal™ SoCs and Radeon™ GPUs to AMD.

The acquisition strongly aligns with the AMD AI growth strategy centered on an open software ecosystem that lowers the barriers of entry for customers through developer tools, libraries and models.

Founded in 2013, by Anush Elangovan and Harsh Menon, nod focus on Machine Intelligence, and enables its customers to effectively and efficiently train and deploy Machine Learning models using advanced Compiler and Code Generation Technologies.

Prior to establishing nod, Anush has worked on the first Google ARM Chrome book. He is an engineering graduate from Madurai Kamraj University Tamil Nadu, India as well as MS from Arizona State and a Bachelor’s from Mepco Schlenk Engineering College in India. While Harsh is a Stanford graduate and was an early employee at Zee.Aero / KittyHawk and worked on flying cars.

nod had raised about $36.5 million in total funding from several investors including 8Square Capital, Atlantic Bridge, Pointguard Ventures and Walden International.

“The acquisition of Nod.ai is expected to significantly enhance our ability to provide AI customers with open software that allows them to easily deploy highly performant AI models tuned for AMD hardware,” said Vamsi Boppana, senior vice president, Artificial Intelligence Group at AMD. “The addition of the talented Nod.ai team accelerates our ability to advance open-source compiler technology and enable portable, high-performance AI solutions across the AMD product portfolio. Nod.ai’s technologies are already widely deployed in the cloud, at the edge and across a broad range of end point devices today.”

“At Nod.ai, we are a team of engineers focused on problem solving — quickly – and moving at pace in an industry of constant change to develop solutions for the next set of problems,” said Anush Elangovan, co-founder and CEO, Nod.ai. “Our journey as a company has cemented our role as the primary maintainer and major contributor to some of the world's most important AI repositories, including SHARK, Torch-MLIR and OpenXLA/IREE code generation technology. By joining forces with AMD, we will bring this expertise to a broader range of customers on a global scale.”

Nod.ai delivers optimized AI solutions to top hyperscalers, enterprises and startups. The compiler-based automation software capabilities of Nod.ai’s SHARK software reduce the need for manual optimization and the time required to deploy highly performant AI models to run across a broad portfolio of data center, edge and client platforms powered by AMD CDNA™, XDNA™, RDNA™ and “Zen” architectures.

Last year in February, AMD acquired Xilinx, Inc., a semiconductor company for $50 billion. Xilinx is known for inventing the first commercially viable field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and creating the first fabless manufacturing model.

Indian American Dr M.S. Reddy Discovers A Revolutionary Method to Control the COVID Pandemic by Inactivating RNA and DNA, Gets Patent

Dr. M.S. Reddy already holds 150 American patents to his credit. Dr. He was nominated over 9 times for the Nobel Prize for his contributions to science

Dr. M.S. Reddy, an Indian American Scientist, widely known as 'Cheese Reddy' gets a patent for his research to curb the spread of COVID. Dr Reddy, a global figure, who holds 150 American patents to his credit, discovered a method to control the COVID pandemic and disclosed this in a press note issued in Hyderabad today.

Dr Malireddy Srinivasulu Reddy (Dr M.S. Reddy) says by inactivating viral RNA we can control the spread of the COVID virus. He opines that in future we can control life-threatening viruses like COVID before they spread. Dr Reddy has registered for a patent on this method with the U.S. Patent Department. The good news is that the American Government has recently awarded a patent for him on this subject.

Experts say this is a revolutionary step in the field of science. It is learnt that we can curb the spread of viruses by inactivating RNA and DNA. So far experts have never thought that naked genetic material is more dangerous than the virus. Applauds are pouring in from different quarters for Dr Reddy for thinking in this direction and also for finding a solution. 

Many Indians, especially Telugus, who have settled in America made the country proud with their achievements. Prominent among them is Dr Malireddy Srinivasulu Reddy (Dr M.S. Reddy). Dr Reddy, who hails from Nellore and settled in the U.S., has got many patents to his credit. He graduated from A.P. Agriculture University in Tirupati and earned his M.S. PhD from Iowa University. He did his higher studies in Food Technology, Bacteriology and Virology and at present he is functioning as Chairman and President of American Dairy and Food Consulting Laboratories and International Media and Cultures. He was honoured with many awards for his research programmes.

Dr Reddy is a world-renowned scientist in the field of Microbiology. He has been conferred with 160 national and international awards. He got the prestigious American Dairy Science Association Richard M. Hoyt memorial award. It is worth mentioning that he is the only foreign-born U.S. Citizen to receive this prestigious national award. He has got many patents for his research work in America. His research on Cheese made him very popular and he is referred to as 'Cheese Reddy'.

He has got over 150 American patents, and written over 140 articles in scientific journals and over 30 e-journals and varied books which made him a global figure. Dr Reddy has been acting as Chairman and Advisor for many organisations. The famous Telugu association in America, NATA, honoured him with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Reddy has been nominated over 9 times for the Nobel Prize for his contributions to science, at the world level.

During the COVID crisis, through his shows on TV, he has created awareness among the people on steps to control the virus. His webinars and speeches have become viral with over 10 million hits on YouTube. Recently, he has got a patent for his research to curb the spread of COVID.

Helia Raises $3 Mn From Silicon Valley Investors, Including Neo, Abstract Ventures and Kevin Hartz

Bangalore: November 26, 2020: Helia, a US based enterprise security startup by Indian origin co-founder, Ashwin Sreenivas, along with the company's US co-founders, Russell Kaplan and Daniel Berrios, today announces that it has raised USD 3 million. The funding round was led by some of the top venture capital firms and investors in Silicon Valley including Neo, Abstract Ventures and Kevin Hartz, the cofounder and chairman of Eventbrite.

Helia's SaaS platform enhances physical security within enterprises by autonomously reviewing security camera footage in real time. Rather than requiring large teams of human guards, Helia uses cutting edge deep learning to monitor cameras for security events, and alerts teams of breaches instantaneously, before they escalate into security incidents. Helia does this without requiring specialized cameras. Instead, it integrates with existing security cameras, processes their feeds on an enterprise's premises using Helia's deep learning stack, and centralizes results to the cloud where they can be viewed securely.

Helia has worked extensively with teams in India on product development, particularly in start-up hubs like Bangalore that are filled with deeply technical and entrepreneurial teams. Furthermore, Ashwin has deep connections to India, having spent the majority of his life in Cochin, Kerala. 

"We are honored to have this incredible group of investors backing our vision and helping Helia on its journey" said Ashwin Sreenivas, co-founder of Helia. There is growing demand within enterprises for security teams to change posture from reactive to proactive. Rather than simply addressing the consequences of a breach, Helia allows security teams to prevent the incident altogether.

ü Helia's AI autonomously monitors all existing security cameras, and alerts security teams of breaches in real time, allowing officers to respond before the breach can escalate.

ü Breach detection ensures that only authorized employees have access to spaces.

ü Enterprise risk reports quantify risk over time allowing security leaders to uncover access control vulnerabilities and allocate guard staffing optimally

For more information, please visit https://www.helia.ai/

About the Founders: Ashwin Sreenivas, a technology entrepreneur from Kerala, is one of three co-founders at Helia; prior, he was a deployment strategist at Palantir Technologies, and has graduated with degrees in computer science and AI from Stanford University (BS, MS). Russell Kaplan, co-founder, was formerly a senior machine learning scientist at Tesla, and also has degrees in AI from Stanford University (BS, MS). Daniel Berrios, co-founder, worked in the TMT investment banking group at Goldman Sachs, and has a degree in economics from Stanford University.

About Helia: Helia is structuring and understanding the world's video. Billions of hours of video are created every day, but almost none of it can be used to create value; Helia changes this by using AI to autonomously review video in real time. The company uses advanced computer vision to integrate with existing security cameras and access control systems to monitor for breaches. Security teams are then notified of incidents in real time, along with a video clip of the event, allowing for quick identification, triage, and response.