Indian-origin CEO of Perplexity AI, Aravind Srinivas, has challenged Elon Musk to stop him from generating funding via USAID which has been shut by the Donald Trump administration.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been shut down following President Donald Trumps decision to merge it with the State Department. The move resulted in mass layoffs, drawing both criticism and support.

Srinivas told Fox News that the deal would "check all the boxes for investors and President Donald Trump, including an ownership stake for the US".

Aravind Srinivas, a co-founder of Perplexity AI, took to Twitter to address concerns over DeepSeek’s data privacy policies after a viral screenshot of its privacy policy stirred debate. The policy highlighted that DeepSeek collects user input and stores some of it on servers located in China, raising questions about security and transparency.

Amid the ongoing row between the US Agency for International Development, established in 1961, and the recently created Department of Government Efficiency, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, the Indian-origin CEO of Perplexity AI shares a cheeky post on X;

Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas often engages in witty and entertaining interactions with Elon Musk on X. His latest share came amid the DOGE vs USAID row.