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For Niki, the realm of artificial intelligence is a vast landscape filled with untapped potential. “We are merely beginning to explore,” she remarks. With numerous opportunities on the horizon, she is enthusiastic about playing a role in shaping that future.
Her path has taken her from learning about artificial intelligence in her family’s humble home in Pune to becoming the youngest and only non-PhD member of Google’s AI research team at just 24 years old, marking her distinctive presence in one of the most transformative fields of our time.
Currently, as the co-founder of Essential AI, she applies her AI knowledge to create tools that help businesses function more effectively and intelligently. Her startup has garnered backing from major industry players such as Google, Nvidia, and AMD.
Niki played a key role in co-authoring the influential paper “Attention Is All You Need,” which established the groundwork for the Transformer model—a crucial component in contemporary AI systems like ChatGPT. This pivotal research has significantly influenced the current AI landscape, impacting a variety of language models and their real-world applications.
The setback of not being accepted into IIT did not discourage her. Instead, she opted to enroll at the Pune Institute of Technology, where she took the initiative to independently learn about artificial intelligence. “I lacked guidance during this journey,” she shares, “so I fully immersed myself in the subject, acquiring knowledge through hands-on experience, online courses, and personal projects.”
Upon completing her undergraduate degree, Niki was resolute in her goal to pursue a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence in the United States, fully cognizant of the obstacles she would face. Although she had secured a loan from HDFC Bank to facilitate her studies, her situation took an unexpected turn upon her arrival in the U.S.
The bank was unable to disburse the funds, prompting her family to seek financial assistance from various sources to support her education. Fortunately, she managed to secure a sponsor in her second year, and an internship further enabled her to repay the loans.
At just 24 years old, Niki joined Google, becoming the youngest member of her team and the only one without a PhD.
Driven by a desire to go beyond her regular responsibilities, Niki proactively delved into the intricacies of the emerging Transformer model.
Her commitment and initiative led to remarkable achievements. She successfully applied the Transformer architecture across multiple modalities, including images, audio, and 3D vision, significantly enhancing the capabilities of AI models.
Today, Parmar is recognized as a leading figure in the AI sector, standing out as one of the few female founders in the competitive and ever-evolving global AI arena.
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