Aaditya Subedi is a co-founder and the current COO of Architect Labs, an AI lab focused on computing systems.

His company recently secured $24 million in seed funding from a group of venture capital firms led by Kindred Ventures.

The Post’s Rivash Rijal spoke to 19-year-old Subedi about Architect Labs, his journey dropping out of college and his thoughts on the Nepali diaspora.

How would you describe what Architect Labs does to a person who is not familiar with AI speak?

We are an AI lab, and we build AI systems. The AI system we built can design chips. Chips are fundamental to every technology. These chips, or microprocessors, are the reason we have mobile phones, cars, and, for that matter, any digital device around us.

The requirement for chips is rapidly changing. Chip design requires significant resources. It takes hundreds of millions in investment, hundreds of specialised people working on it, and almost three years.

We are trying to build an AI system that can meaningfully accelerate the design of these chips. We want to make it accessible to a lot more companies.

What we do is not just about automation. There are many things you can do with these systems. Say you want to verify that the chip works before you send it out. You can use AI systems to simulate those things.

Tell me about your personal life and how you ended up here.

I was born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal. My family home is in Morang. I studied at Aksharaa School up to grade 10. Then I did my IBDP at Ullens. I went to Harvard to study computer science and maths as an undergraduate. I finished my first year and dropped out in the middle of my second year to start this company.

Outside of school, I played tennis my whole childhood. I played at the national level for Nepal.

I had also done a startup in Nepal before coming to the US.

What was it like dropping out of college to start a business?

It was scary to a certain extent, especially when you are coming on a foreign visa.

And it's also scary given that I was one of a handful of very lucky international students studying at Harvard. I had a full scholarship. When I was leaving school, I was giving up almost $400,000 in scholarships.

But I felt that dropping out and pursuing this would be the best use of my time. We read about the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s. There is a similar revolution happening with AI today. I don’t think people who aren’t tuned into the technology sector realise how fast the world is changing and how different it will look in five years. I wanted to be at the forefront of AI and not just on the sidelines watching things happen.

You mentioned earlier that AI is the next industrial revolution. I think non-tech people get scared or annoyed when they hear that, like something is being forced on them.

First, I think AI is an advantage, particularly for young people. Usually, without rapid change, it is experienced people who have the upper hand, but young people today are AI-native, and that is something that can be leveraged.

The second is that I would tell people that AI is an opportunity to build. No matter what sector you are in, be it medicine or journalism, anyone who puts their mind to it will find that it is a time when what they produce can define how entire industries will be shaped.

Finally, I think people who understand AI’s capabilities and limits are less paranoid than those who watch from afar and through the lens of the news. I would be lying if I said I don’t think a lot of people are going to lose their jobs and that the way work is done will change, but it is something in our hands.

Is there a message for the readers?

I would just like to say that I am a regular kid from Kathmandu. I know many people in Nepal who are more talented and hardworking than I am. You can aspire towards your goals and make them happen, regardless of the past.

Like I was saying earlier, I think our diaspora sometimes tends to think they are from a small country and they are in a place with little privilege. If you do have that mindset, even that is not a good reason not to do what you want to do, because if these things are true, you have nothing to lose. Everyone should take big swings and try to build something meaningful to them.