President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Sriram Krishnan to serve as senior policy advisor for AI at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, placing a well-known entrepreneur, investor and product executive inside the administration’s emerging technology team.
The appointment connects White House AI policy work with a figure who has held senior roles across major internet and social platforms, worked in venture capital, and publicly argued that the internet needs better technical systems for handling the relationship between websites and AI chatbots.
What Krishnan’s AI Policy Role Covers
According to Trump, Krishnan will “help shape and coordinate AI policy across government, working with the president’s council of advisors on science and technology.” That description points to a role focused less on one agency and more on coordination across the federal government’s approach to artificial intelligence.
Krishnan will work within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, known as OSTP. The source article also names Michael Kratsios as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and an Assistant to the President for Science and Technology.
In a post on X, Krishnan said he would work closely with David Sacks, the ex-PayPal COO who was recently named Trump’s crypto and AI “czar.” Sacks also posted about Trump’s technology team, saying he looked forward to working with Michael Kratsios and others.
Krishnan framed the move around national competitiveness in artificial intelligence. “I’m honored to be able to serve our country and ensure continued American leadership in AI,” Krishnan wrote. “Thank you, Donald Trump, for this opportunity.”
A Career Across Product, Venture Capital and Social Platforms
Krishnan arrives with a background that spans both large technology companies and venture capital. Before this appointment, he was until recently a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z.
He joined a16z as a general partner in February 2021. In 2023, he was selected to lead the firm’s London office, which was its first non-U.S. location. He left the firm in late November.
Before venture capital, Krishnan led product teams at several major technology companies. The source article lists Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo!, Facebook and Snap among the companies where he previously worked.
He also became more widely known through media and technology circles alongside his wife, Aarthi Ramamurthy. In 2021, the two gained additional prominence as hosts of the podcast “The Aarthi and Sriram Show,” which had previously been called the “Good Time Show.”
Why His Ties to X and Elon Musk Matter
Krishnan also has a close relationship with Elon Musk. The source article says he worked with Musk to rebuild Twitter, now X, after Musk acquired the company in 2022.
That connection is notable because Musk co-leads the Department of Government Efficiency, described in the source as a policy group that recommends government restructuring and cuts to federal spending.
The appointment therefore places Krishnan near several overlapping technology policy discussions: AI policy, crypto policy, government restructuring and the role of major technology platforms in public life. The source does not describe the specific policies Krishnan will pursue, but it does establish that he will help coordinate AI policy and work with key members of Trump’s technology team.
His Public View on AI and the Open Internet
Krishnan has previously written about a major tension in the AI boom: how websites, content platforms and AI-powered chatbots should exchange value. In an opinion piece last year in The New York Times, he called for “a fundamentally different mechanism” for websites to “exchange” value with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other AI-powered chatbots.
That issue has become important because AI systems can rely on large amounts of online material, while website operators and online communities have pushed back against how their content is used. The source article points to user protests on Reddit and Stack Exchange, as well as those platforms’ data licensing programs.
Krishnan described the reaction from large internet sites in vivid terms. “Large internet sites are fighting back against AI models with the internet equivalent of raising the castle drawbridge,” he said.
He also argued that the best answer may come through technical design rather than legal battles. “Some industry experts believe the answers are in legal action and older sites forming content alliances. As a technologist, my hope is that the answers lie in code rather than lawyers and that we see creative technology solutions to help keep the internet open.”
The Stakes for AI Policy
Krishnan’s new role comes at a time when artificial intelligence policy is not only about model development. It also touches competition, data access, platform governance, federal coordination and the future of the web.
Based on the source article, several threads define the appointment:
- Government coordination: Krishnan is expected to help shape and coordinate AI policy across government.
- White House science policy: His role sits inside the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
- Technology team alignment: He is expected to work closely with David Sacks and with the president’s council of advisors on science and technology.
- Industry experience: His career includes product leadership at major technology companies and a general partner role at a16z.
- AI and web economics: His public writing has focused on how websites and AI chatbots might exchange value without closing off the internet.
The appointment does not, by itself, reveal a complete AI policy agenda. But it does show that Trump’s team is drawing from Silicon Valley product, venture and platform experience as it builds out its approach to artificial intelligence at the White House.