No PhD, No AI Startup

Meta AI chief Yann LeCun thinks it might be. In a recent chat with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, LeCun emphasised how a PhD equips entrepreneurs with the skills to innovate while avoiding false assumptions about their ideas.

“In a complex field like AI, knowing what’s possible and what’s not is invaluable,” he said.

India’s AI ecosystem, however, is still catching up. Only 8% of Indian AI startups are founded by PhDs, a stark contrast to global trends. Industry veterans like Amit Sheth of the AI Institute at the University of South Carolina argued that deep technical expertise gives startups a definitive edge. His students’ ventures, like AppZen, thunk.ai, Objective, Inc., and Clinical AI Assistance, stand as a testament to this claim.