A senior executive at artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI, Dmitry Shevelenko, has thanked the company’s Indian-origin CEO, Aravind Srinivas, for creating more than 100 jobs in the US. This comes amidst a debate in the US surrounding Indian immigration, particularly following the recent election of Donald Trump as president of the country for a second term.
The debate has been further fueled by the President-elect’s appointment of Indian-origin Sriram Krishnan as Senior White House Policy Advisor for AI. This appointment has drawn criticism from some Americans who fear Krishnan will use his position to promote immigration.
Shevelenko’s statement supports Trump’s decision and emphasises the positive economic contributions of Indian immigrants in the tech sector.

Take a look at the post here

In his X post, Shevelenko wrote: “I’m an American who is gainfully employed because an Indian immigrant on a visa founded a company in the US. Thx @AravSrinivas for creating 100+ American jobs.”

How users reacted to the post

Since being shared, Shevelenko’s post received over 4.6 lakh views and over 11,000 likes. The X post drew both praise and criticism.
“Did he ever mention why he didn’t open his company in India?” one user asked.

Meanwhile, other users defended the right of talented people to succeed globally, irrespective of their birthplace.
“Same. Let builders build in America. Where you are born doesn’t matter, where you choose to build does. We need to keep attracting the top talent to continue to grow our economy,” another user wrote in the comments section of the post.

A third user also supported Shevelenko’s post and wrote: “It will be safe to assume that America lost 100s of founders like Aravind if not 1000s in the last 25 years due to the existing skewed policy.”

“Those who are feeling threatened by skilled immigration are hardly qualified enough to get a basic job,” a fourth user chipped in.

On the other hand, a fifth user made personal attacks on Shevelenko and said: “You’re Ukrainian. Zelensky needs your presence back home. Nothing against you or him personally, but do you see how your argument is worthless?”