A software engineer has taken to social media to express his regret at turning down a job offer from Aravind Srinivas, the Indian-origin CEO of AI search engine Perplexity AI. Aditya Baradwaj recently shared a screenshot of his conversation with Srinivas from July 2022, in which he was offered the opportunity to become a founding engineer at what would later emerge as a significant player in artificial intelligence.
At the time, however, Baradwaj opted for what seemed to be a more secure career path, declining the offer in favour of continuing his work at Alameda Research/FTX. Reflecting on his decision, he admitted his regret in a post on X, writing, “I said no because of how well things were going at Alameda Research/FTX.”
Responding to another user’s post about missed opportunities, Baradwaj commented, “I’ve got you beat for the worst financial decision,” before sharing the chat exchange with Srinivas.
According to an NDTV report, Srinivas reacted cryptically to the revelation, posting “e/acc bs effective altruism” in response. His comment referenced the ongoing philosophical debate between effective accelerationism (e/acc), which advocates for rapid technological progress, and effective altruism, which prioritises ethical and evidence-based advancements.
In agreement, Baradwaj responded, “Yup, this is why e/acc will win.”
According to an NDTV report, Srinivas reacted cryptically to the revelation, posting “e/acc bs effective altruism” in response. His comment referenced the ongoing philosophical debate between effective accelerationism (e/acc), which advocates for rapid technological progress, and effective altruism, which prioritises ethical and evidence-based advancements.
In agreement, Baradwaj responded, “Yup, this is why e/acc will win.”
Further compounding his misfortune, Baradwaj reportedly later discovered he had inadvertently ignored another promising AI job opportunity. He revealed that the founder of Cursor AI had sent him five emails, all of which he had missed. “Looks like I ghosted Cursor as well,” he lamented in a subsequent post.
Social media users reacted with a mixture of disbelief and amusement at his revelations. One user remarked, “A brutal lesson in making the right bets,” while another quipped, “The moral of the story is always say yes to an AI startup.” Others were more emphatic, with comments such as “Biggest fumble of the century” and “I am going to cry reading this.”