Hola, I’m Sid. I don’t really speak Spanish.
[This site used to redirect to my Google Scholar, which is still here, fear not].
The Short Version: I’m CEO/Founder at Finster AI, do AI research, used to be at DeepMind, tweet a lot about AI or cricket, sometimes invest in cool companies, write a little, generally am allergic to BS, like learning new things, have some of the usual hobbies (books, music), some niche ones (badly play bridge, for one) and will chat non-stop if we get along. Details below.
The Long Version
Professionally, I’m the Founder/CEO at Finster AI, a young startup working to turbocharge knowledge work at financial institutions with AI. In general, I think AI will be transformational like nothing we’ve seen, and it will also transform some things more than others. I think knowledge work is one of those. Also, there’s far too much hype in AI right now.
Before that, I spent 7 years at DeepMind, which was a huge privilege. I joined as their first undergrad intern and my last role was leading a team of folks working on data efficiency, among other things. I learned a hell of a lot; am forever grateful for the opportunity; ask me in person. Publications here.
Now that I’m in the real world, I also invest a little bit in cool AI companies. This is fun as I don’t have to run them. It’s also fun for other reasons. One of those is that there’s so much noise in both the VC and AI worlds, especially when you combine them, that finding cool people doing cool things is great and I’d love to help. A few of us have also set up an angel collective of AI people called, unimaginatively, The Deep Collective.
I have strong views* (loosely held etc) about some things, less about others. I tweet sporadically (read: a lot) about some of these and sometimes write about a few more. Eg I wrote about Gen AI Fatigue and have ideas about writing a murder mystery one day. Maybe.
If you want to know more or god forbid, want to exchange words with me, please reach out!
*A subset of things you didn’t ask but I do have strong views about (in increasing order of specificity): climate change is real; the earth isn’t flat; nuance is important; being kind is free; moving fast doesn’t mean breaking things; there is such a thing as working hard with balance; company culture is the average of its first 20 hires; if you surround yourself with people who look and sound like you, you’ll get products that only work for you; mental health is important, especially because its taboo to talk about. Talk to your friends and family and if you can, talk to an expert.
**Note: If you’re an investor and want to invest in Finster, that’s awesome! We’re not raising right now, but I’d love to chat in general — I’d say email me but everyone knows everyone uses LinkedIn so that works!
***Note to journalists: A free and fair press is great and I’m always happy to chat! The caveat is that I don’t chat off the record. I either (1) will politely decline (2) will chat and you can quote me. I don’t do spicy anonymous quotes.