{"id":204536,"date":"2024-12-30T10:45:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T10:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/30\/h-1b-visa-row-indians-are-also-being-laid-off-perplexity-ai-founders-big-statement-amid-trump-elon-musks-stand-times-of-india\/"},"modified":"2024-12-30T10:45:33","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T10:45:33","slug":"h-1b-visa-row-indians-are-also-being-laid-off-perplexity-ai-founders-big-statement-amid-trump-elon-musks-stand-times-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/30\/h-1b-visa-row-indians-are-also-being-laid-off-perplexity-ai-founders-big-statement-amid-trump-elon-musks-stand-times-of-india\/","title":{"rendered":"H-1B visa row: \u2018Indians are also being laid off’ – Perplexity AI founder\u2019s big statement amid Trump, Elon Musk\u2019s stand – Times of India"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Aravind Srinivas, who established Perplexity AI (valued at $9 billion), has become involved in the US immigration policy discussion. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

H-1B visa row: The ongoing dispute regarding Indian immigrants and H-1B visas within US President-elect Donald Trump<\/a>‘s circle lacks factual basis, according to Perplexity AI founder Aravind Srinivas. The IIT alumnus, currently on an H-1B visa in the US and with experience at DeepMind and OpenAI, emphasises that unauthorised immigration is the primary concern, instead of H-1B visas.
Aravind Srinivas, who established Perplexity AI (valued at $9 billion) after working at prestigious organisations like DeepMind, Google and OpenAI, has become involved in the US immigration policy discussion.
“Clearly, it (H-1B visa row) 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\u2026 is the illegal immigration. That’s what the government needs to cut down on,\u201d he said.
Donald Trump’s prominent supporters are divided between MAGA (Make America Great Again) and DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) factions. Whilst Elon Musk<\/a> and Vivek Ramaswamy support H-1B visas and will lead the efficiency initiative, MAGA advocates Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer criticise them as wealthy tech executives disconnected from Trump supporters’ interests.
Also Read | H-1B visas: Approvals for Indian IT firms half since 2015! Elon Musk\u2019s Tesla shows significant increase<\/a>
According to Srinivas, the criticism of Sriram Krishnan<\/a>, Trump’s AI policy advisor selection, based on his previous pro-immigration statements is unwarranted. He anticipates the situation will improve.
“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,\u201d Srinivas told the financial daily.
\u201cI feel it’s going to all settle down. I think we should all feel good about someone as high calibre as Sriram influencing AI policy. People need to understand he has nothing to do with immigration, and stop taking his past tweets out of context!\u201d
Meanwhile, in a surprising development, Donald Trump has aligned himself with Elon Musk’s stance on H-1B visas, whilst the contentious issue continued to create unrest amongst his MAGA supporters throughout the weekend, leading to anti-Indian sentiment.
The controversy intensified as American nationalists expressed their anger towards technology companies and Indian temporary workers, accusing them of misusing the H-1B programme at the expense of US graduates.
MAGA supporters extended their hostility towards Indian-Americans and lawful immigrants, demanding their departure from the United States.
Trump’s unexpected support for Musk in this heated discussion contradicted his earlier opposition to H-1B visas. Speaking to the New York Post, he stated: “I have always been in favour of the (H-1B) visas,” leaving his MAGA supporters bewildered.<\/div>\n