Who Is Google Veteran Shivakumar Venkataraman Hired By OpenAI?

OpenAI recently recruited Shivakumar Venkataraman, a former Google veteran with 21 years of experience. Venkataraman, who previously looked after Google’s search advertising business, will serve as OpenAI’s vice president. This calculated hiring is in line with OpenAI’s purported efforts to develop a search engine that will take on Google’s flagship product head-to-head.

Read this article to know more about Google veteran Shivakumar Venkataraman, his working profile, and his role at OpenAI. 

Who is Shivakumar Venkataraman?

The 52-year-old Shivakumar Venkataraman is from Hyderabad. He received his degree in computer science engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai in 1990.

Venkataraman went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a doctorate in computer science. He began his career as a summer intern at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories before moving on to IBM as a software engineer.

After joining Google in 2003, Venkataraman eventually took over as the company’s chief executive officer for search advertising. He eventually took over as the company’s chief executive officer for search advertising. Also, he was promoted to vice president of Google Labs, the division that houses the company’s virtual and augmented reality research, in January after it was reorganized.

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What is the role of Google veteran Shivakumar Venkataraman at OpenAI?

As OpenAI’s new Vice President, Venkataraman’s role is unclear, but his expertise in search advertising and infrastructure will undoubtedly be a major asset for the company. OpenAI has hired Shivakumar Venkataraman to lead its search engine, a potential competitor for Google’s core product. This strategic move aligns with OpenAI’s reported efforts to create a search engine that will directly compete with Google’s flagship product. His vast knowledge of search advertising at Google makes him an invaluable resource for OpenAI as it develops its ‘Google Search Alternative’ product. 

OpenAI Sam Altman recently discussed the AI search engine’s development on the nexus of large language models (LLMs) and search in a podcast with Lex Fridman. He mentioned that the engine aims to outperform Google by presenting information in a less “boring” way.

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