OpenAI Leader Kicks Off Orientation at Scaler School of Technology for Class of 2025

The Wire

3 days ago

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 14: The Scaler School of Technology (SST) held its formal Orientation Day Ceremony on August 4, 2025, at its Macro Campus in Electronic City, Bengaluru, and officially opened the undergraduate Cohort of 2025-2029. The institute's 2025 admission cycle has witnessed a 240% surge in applications in the last two years. This year, more than 600 students were welcomed on campus from a pool of around 20,000 aspirants who took the National Scaler Entrance Test (NSET). This orientation marked a key milestone in SST's rise to one of India's leading institutions for tech education in India.
The experiences of this year's orientation were created not only to welcome the students, but to apply meaning to the culture, philosophy, and ambitions of SST as an institution that blends academic rigor with industry-respected hands-on engineering education. It was a unique day of activity, reflection and inspiration, and a great way to frame the next four years of their lives.
The event started with Shruti, Program Director at SST and an IIT Kharagpur alumni, welcoming the cohort and imploring students to think of their time at SST as a challenge to their thinking and growth as a person.
Scaler's Co-founder & Dean at SST, Anshuman Singh-Ex tech lead for Facebook Messenger then took the stage and gave an inspiring and powerful message, captivating the entire assembly. He called on the importance of a curiosity-driven mindset, learning through honest exploratory engagement and getting out of our comfort zone. He reminded the cohort that they are entering their foundational years at a time when technical disciplines such as computer science and artificial intelligence are rapidly changing the workings of the world, and that SST would be the laboratory in which their aspiration would be cultivated.
Program Director Manmeet Singh facilitated the mid-morning program while exhibiting both structure and spontaneity. Through several interactive games and activities, he helped students relax into the new environment while highlighting the rich diversity and possibility of the batch.
One of the most anticipated sessions of the day was the Super Mentor Central Session with a live virtual address from Yash Kumar, Programme and Tech Lead at OpenAI, who is currently leading the development of OpenAI's agent technologies, joining us from San Francisco. Yash shared his journey from IIIT Hyderabad (fellow alum with Anshuman Singh) to building foundational AI systems such as ChatGPT. Yash's talk about consistency, resilience and continuous learning offered a truly unique experience to students on Day 1, and reflected the core principles that align with SST's purpose.
The event then continued with keynote sessions by three eminent industry leaders, each one offering a different perspective into the world of tech leadership today. Nikhil Mittal, CTO of Zepto highlighted agility and tech leadership as key to developing high-performance systems that can adapt to the pace of innovation that defines startups. Akhilesh Yede, Chief Technology Officer-Digital Native at Microsoft, discussed how students can employ curiosity as an innovation-driver, and spoke about what it means to thrive in a global tech team. Rajorshi Aich, former Head, Enterprise Solutions at Google discussed insights into cloud computing, scaling enterprise systems, and how to prepare for future technological disruption.
Students benefited not only hearing from thought leaders, but interacting with them through an open Q&A session, making it educationally relevant on a personal level for all the students at SST.
The program ended with a keynote speech by Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-founder of Scaler, who introduced students into SST's core values – Respect, Integrity, Curiosity, and Excellence or- RICE – as more than values that people simply share with one another or in an academic institution, but as moral values that all of them should carry out into their lives and careers. The ceremony ended with the whole cohort, all the faculty and leadership taking the official SST Oath, signalling a commitment to the journey ahead.
Following the formalities, students and faculty sat down to lunch together, began forming early connections, sharing stories, and forming a starting point towards what will no doubt be the beginnings of a community built together on trust, learning and collaboration. The energy carried through the evening, with students unwinding over games like football, cricket, and other fun activities. The day concluded on a high note with a lively DJ night, marking not just the end of orientation but the beginning of countless memories to come.
Orientation Day for the 2025 academic year at Scaler School of Technology not only marks the start of the academic calendar, but the institution also reaffirmed its drive to develop ethical, competent, and purpose driven technologists on Day One. SST regularly holds sessions with "super mentors" like Rajan Anandan (Ex-Microsoft India Head, Ex-Google VP SEA), Bhavin Turakhia (ZETA CEO) and most recently Arvind Neelakantan - one of the founding minds behind GPT-3 and GPT-4.
The final intake is taking place now, with the last set of students joining on September 1. Admissions are closing soon for the Batch 2025 final intake, and this is the last opportunity for aspiring engineers to begin their journey at SST -where world-class mentorship, hands-on learning, and industry exposure begin from Day One.
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