India, Sept. 30 -- Varun Goyal, a 25-year-old Indian-origin engineer, has revealed why he chose to leave a secure, high-paying career in quantitative trading to join an artificial intelligence startup. Goyal, who graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur before moving to the US for his master's in computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, spoke to Business Insider about his unconventional career choice.

The 25-year-old said he was initially drawn to quant roles because of the high salaries and prestige. "Blinded by the initial high salary and prestige, I joined a firm as a quantitative strategist for the summer," he recalled.

However, after speaking with industry professionals, his perspective...