2025-01-31 04:06:00
As China barged into the artificial intelligence sphere with DeepSeek R1 AI, which outmatched US-developed AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Americans trained their guns on the H-1B visa programme that US tech giants use to hire foreign workers. A debate is raging if the US lost out by ignoring its talent even as China used home-grown talent to build a cheaper large language model (LLM) infrastructure.
The H-1B programme has already seen a lot of opposition from the MAGA crowd, which has been invigorated by Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Trump made hiring of Americans and a crackdown on immigration his key poll planks. Many now seem to be of the opinion that Indians in the US, on H-1B visas, should go home than go big.
Before we get into the details of the H-1B debate, restarted by China’s DeepSeek success, it is important to understand why the H-1B visa programme was started by the American government three decades ago.
FROM WELCOMING FOREIGN TALENT TO REPELLING THEM
It was 1990, the US was under George H Bush, and it passed the Immigration Act to deal with the looming problem of labour shortage. It started H-1B visas, to “encourage the immigration of exceptionally talented people, such as scientists, engineers and educators”.
“The intent of the H-1B provisions is to help employers who cannot otherwise obtain needed business skills and abilities from the US workforce,” states the US Department of Labour.
While the problem of a talent pool was solved by H-1B visa holders, what this kickstarted was a debate about “foreigners taking Indian jobs”.
When DeepSeek topped the charts of the Apple app store and made the headlines, Americans took to social media to discuss why the US needed to do the same with its “home-grown talent pool”.
There are a few problems with this argument. But first, let’s see what these arguments say.
WHY AMERICANS ARE FAULTING H-1B AFTER DEEPSEEK SUCCESS
A person took to X and shared, “DeepSeek increases my conviction that America doesn’t need H1B Indians to succeed. China is NOT using Indian indentured servants to beat us in the AI race. Using H1Bs exposes American companies to having their trade secrets stolen too.”
Another person thought it was a little too late for tech companies’ nationalism after China’s DeepSeek R1 outdid them.
They wrote, “Big Tech expects a nationalist sentiment for the AI race against China. Funny because these companies spent the last decade trying to destroy everyone with nationalist views, they propped up the money-grubbing left. Now they are shocked.”
Another person called H-1B visa holders, “cheap foreign labour” over “smart and talented American men”.
They stated, “Scam Altman and H1B Valley choose cheap foreign labour over smart, talented White American men. They paid the price for their grift—and harmed our country—with China’s release of DeepSeek. DeepSeek is what happens when a nation invests in and believes in its own people.”
Others even quipped that, finally, the Chinese have taken ChatGPT’s job.
These arguments claim Indians are being hired for their low price despite lower talent, and that if American men were hired, China would not be able to outdo Americans.
NOT JUST INDIANS, EVEN CHINESE WORKERS HIRED ON H-1B VISAS
This does not take into account the technological and research expertise of China. The Chinese nationals are the most hired foreign nationals on H-1B after Indians in the US.
Indians are usually three-quarters of the H-1B visa applications, followed by Chinese, who are about one-eighth, according to a report by The New York Times.
It also does not take into account the emphasis on technological education in India. Many Indians on social media platforms brought this up.
“The real answer is because they need lots of smart people from a specific educational background and that requires looking around the world. India pushes technology on their people and schools teach English. India has the largest English-speaking work force in the world,” wrote an Indian working in the US on Reddit.
Another person agreed that Indians did work for cheaper prices.
H-1B HAS HELPED AMERICAN COMPANIES STAY COMPETITIVE
About 60% of people on work visas are paid well below the local median wage for their jobs in 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The H-1B programme has helped American companies hire quality talent at a lower cost and stay competitive.
People also shared Indians were paid lower salaries but were similarly educated and that’s what many foreign employers turned into a profiteering scheme.
“They’re cheaper but similarly educated, so they fulfil the same role just fine for a fraction of the price,” wrote an Indian working in the US on Reddit.
“Our education has subsided, and we barely pay anything for college as compared to the US, so we are willing to start working for less. It’s become a thing since the dot com boom for Indians to chase the American (IT) dream, since they realised that it was their ticket out of a drab financial situation back home,” the person added.
A person also shared the rat race in education in India, which makes many Indians in the US excel in their respective fields. They also shared that Indians are driven by opportunity and not just passion.
“Indian here. We have the second-largest population in the world. Poor economic conditions cause a rat race to get educated and earn as much as possible, irrespective of what your passion is,” they shared.
H-1B AND INDIAN-BASHING PLAIN SHORTSIGHTEDNESS
In fact, many economists suggest that immigrant workers end up creating new employment opportunities for US-born workers.
“The economic contributions of H-1B workers in particular may increase the employment opportunities available to native-born workers in the United States,” says the American Immigration Council.
Thousands of skilled foreign workers, including Indians, have infused brilliance into American tech companies.
Sundar Pichai of Google, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Arvind Krishna of IBM, Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron Technology are just a few of them.
Indians contributed in a big way to making Silicon Valley the tech hub it is today. In the 80s and 90s, a majority of IIT graduates, India’s best engineering brains, migrated to the US.
Therefore, training the guns on the H-1B programme because China has succeeded in creating DeepSeek AI is plain short-sightedness.
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