Niki Parmar's journey from failed IIT-JEE to AI innovator
Niki Parmar's journey to the top of the AI world is all about resilience and curiosity.
After not clearing India's tough IIT-JEE exam, she pursued her existing interest in computer science at Pune Institute of Computer Technology.
A random online AI course in 2010 changed everything, and set her on a path to shape how millions use technology today.
Niki Parmar co-authored foundational Transformers paper
Despite money struggles during her master's in the US Parmar kept going with help from family.
By 24, she was the youngest member of her AI research team and its only non-Ph.D. researcher.
She co-authored "Attention Is All You Need," introducing Transformers, the core tech behind ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
Now co-founder of Essential AI (backed by Google and NVIDIA), Parmar keeps building smarter tools for businesses everywhere.