A debate regarding Indian immigrants and H-1B visas is raging in the US. Tesla CEO Elon Musk who played a key role in the election campaign of the US President-elect Donald Trump is a strong supporter of H-1B visas. Musk, who along with Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has been tapped by Trump to lead his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), argued last week that foreign workers are needed for tech companies like Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla.
Talking on the issue, Aravind Srinivas, founder of Perplexity AI, told Economic Times that those opposing these visas miss a major point. Srinivas argues that the focus on H-1B visas is misplaced and unsupported by data, emphasizing illegal immigration as the more pressing issue. For those unaware, Srinivas, has worked at DeepMind, Google, and OpenAI, founded Perplexity AI, valued at $9 billion.
“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,” Srinivas stated in an interview. He pointed out that Indians are also affected by layoffs and that the government should prioritize addressing illegal immigration. “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 numbers are just an order of magnitude higher there, and even in legal immigration, the problem is actually that the sectors in which people are getting laid off are not necessarily the ones that the Indian H-1B applications are coming. People getting laid off are not necessarily all engineers. If people actually took a look at the data and saw it for themselves, they wouldn’t be this angry,” he added.

H-1B visa debate that has divided

This fierce H-1B visa debate is said to have divided Trump’s supporters into two factions: One side supports H-1B visas, while the other opposes them. Figures like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have expressed support for H-1B visas, while others have criticized this stance.
Srinivas also defended Sriram Krishnan, the political figure’s pick for AI policy advisor, against criticism related to Krishnan’s past support of H-1B visas and immigration. Srinivas believes the criticism is unfair and expects the controversy to subside once people examine the data. He praised Krishnan’s qualifications and urged people to avoid misinterpreting his previous statements.

Aravind Srinivas met PM Narendra Modi

Last week, Aravind Srinivas also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a post on Twitter, Srinivas wrote, “Had the honour to meet Prime Minister @narendramodi ji. We had a great conversation about the potential for AI adoption in India and across the world. Really inspired by Modi Ji’s dedication to staying updated on the topic and his remarkable vision for the future.”
Responding to the post, Prime Minister Modi said, “It was great to meet you and discuss AI, its uses and its evolution. Good to see you doing great work with @perplexity_ai. Wish you all the best for your future endeavours.”