Yann LeCun, the chief AI scientist at Meta, believes that aspiring AI entrepreneurs in India should obtain an academic degree, such as a PhD or Masters, before building a startup. In a recent interview with Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath, LeCun emphasized the importance of formal training in innovation, stating that it trains individuals to invent new things and prevents them from fooling themselves into thinking they are innovators when they are not. While a PhD is not a strict requirement for success, LeCun believes it offers significant advantages for entrepreneurs, providing a different perspective and knowledge of what is possible in a complex and technical field like AI. He also advised young entrepreneurs to experiment with open-source models, such as Meta’s Llama, and to fine-tune them for specific industries like healthcare and education. During his recent visit to India, LeCun was impressed by projects focused on language translation and cultural preservation, highlighting the potential for AI to inspire in regions with diverse languages and cultural complexities. At Meta’s Build with AI Summit in Bengaluru, LeCun, along with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and People+AI head Tanuj Bhojwani, discussed the idea of positioning India as the AI use-case capital of the world. Nilekani added that India’s digital public infrastructure provides a strong foundation for a faster transition to AI, a concept he previously described as “DPI to the power of AI.” In conclusion, LeCun believes that obtaining a PhD can give entrepreneurs more legitimacy in hiring talented individuals and raising funding, and that India has the potential to become a leader in AI innovation.
