Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath criticises the overuse of AI in pitches, emphasising the need for genuine differentiation and meaningful business propositions in a saturated tech landscape.
Nithin Kamath has a blunt message for founders:AI is no longer a pitch deck advantage. The Zerodha chief said the flood of decks opening with claims about artificial intelligence has become so common that it now does the opposite of impressing him, because it signals something every startup is saying rather than something that sets one apart. Business Today reported that Kamath likened the habit to boasting about basic daily hygiene, arguing that AI has moved from novelty to the baseline expectation for serious investors.
The larger point, Kamath suggested, is that founders need to explain the business, not merely the technology. If AI is part of the product, investors want to know what it actually does, why it matters and why the company is hard to copy. The message is especially relevant in a funding market where polished presentations are easier than ever to produce, thanks in part to the same AI tools now being used by almost everyone. A slick deck, Kamath said, is no longer enough to compensate for weak differentiation.
That scepticism fits with Kamath’s broader view of AI in finance. In an interview with The Economic Times, he warned retail investors against assuming AI can reliably beat the market, saying it may improve discipline and execution but cannot erase behavioural mistakes or structural disadvantages. Separately, he has said Zerodha has deliberately held back from AI-driven order placement, preferring instead to strengthen its infrastructure and backend systems. In his view, automation is coming whether brokers like it or not, but trust, reliability and underlying plumbing will remain the real moats.
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