H-1B visas that’s roiling Donald Trump’s team even before he takes office misses the point and isn’t borne out by data, said Aravind Srinivas, founder of Perplexity AI. Illegal immigration is the real issue, said the IIT graduate who’s worked at DeepMind and OpenAI, and is himself in the US on an H-1B visa.
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“Clearly, it surprised everybody online and it's not exactly data driven--the claims that the H-1B or Indian immigrants are taking away the jobs of laid-off American tech workers,” he told ET in an interview. “Indians are also being laid off and honestly, the real problem… is the illegal immigration. That’s what the government needs to cut down on.”
The issue has polarised Trump’s top supporters, with the opposing camps being dubbed MAGA (Make America Great Again) and DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will head this proposed cost-cutting agency, have spoken out strongly in favour of H-1B visas, while Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer are MAGA supporters who have attacked their opponents, accusing them of being billionaire tech bros with little interest in working for the welfare of the Trump base.
Srinivas said it was unfair to drag Sriram Krishnan, Trump’s pick for AI policy advisor, into the dispute by citing his past tweets supporting H-1B visas and immigration. He’s also expecting