Trump Appoints Internet Entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan as Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence

President-elect Donald J. Trump has appointed Indian American venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as the Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In a post of Truth Social, Trump said Krishnan will “focus on ensuring continued American leadership in AI and help shape and coordinate AI policy across Government, including working with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.” He will work “closely” with David Sacks, a South African-American entrepreneur, author, and investor in internet technology firms.

Earlier this month Krishnan, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z),resigned from the venture capital firm. At the time, there were speculations that he could be joining the Department of Government Efficiency, co-headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Confirming the news of his departure in a post on X, Sriram said he’ll soon provide details on his next move. “What’s next? I’ll have more on that in a bit but it’s obvious we are living through a unique moment in history,” he wrote. “I’m going to be jumping all into something I’ve wanted to spend my energy on. More on that in the coming months.”

Krishnan joined A16z in 2021 and has worked as a crypto investor. Before joining the firm, he held numerous senior product roles, including leading core consumer teams at Twitter where he was responsible for products including the home timeline, new user experience, search, discovery, and audience growth. He was among one of the advisers who helped Musk take over the company. The Washington Post reported at the time that Andreessen Horowitz had invested $400 million in Musk’s Twitter acquisition. 

Krishnan also worked at Snap and Facebook, where he created and oversaw various mobile ad products including Snap’s Direct Response ads business and the Facebook Audience Network, one of the largest networks in display advertising. He started his career at Microsoft where he touched numerous projects related to Windows Azure. Krishnan He is the author of “Programming Windows Azure,” published by O’Reilly. He also hosts a podcast, “The Good Time Show,” on Clubhouse with his wife Aarthi Ramamurthy, where they have conversations with leading builders and CEOs and reveal what it takes to make it to the inside

Meanwhile, Krishnan’s appointment has sparked intense debate online, with many questioning his views on immigration, He has been vocal about expanding the H-1B visa program and removing country cap quotas for green card.