The author focuses on physical presence in a country, but as she points out, immigrants flocked to the US because it's an economic powerhouse. This will not change, and for all intents and purposes the talent will still be in the US, since their work will be in the US. If anything, it will make it even stronger, since most of the interesting things in e.g. tech are done there, and there is now less of a barrier to get the talent. Big fish will eat the small fish, you can see this clearly in e.g. the EU, where "talent" from smaller poorer countries goes to richer countries massively, since there are effectively no borders or barriers.
So they might not be there physically, but this is not really a big concern if you're a US company. It might be different for the country as a whole though.
Sure, but the talent itself does consider those things. Educated immigrants certainly do; I know several people who have chosen to migrate to the EU over the US in no small part due to the social safety net and better work-life balance, or decided that they'd rather stay where they are in the 3rd world over moving to the US.
The world is a different place than it used to be in the dotcom boom; tech talent has a lot more options nowadays and those things add up.
High talented individuals moving to the US is a win-win for them and the US. They significantly help to strengthen the country and ensure it keeps its dominant position
Think of it this way: the talent will make its way to create a product, in or outside of the US. If the US immigration insist that the country doesn't need the talent, they just create a competition in another country.
Promoting US citizens just because they are US citizens may work for a while, but I doubt that it is a good long-term strategy.
Attracting the most talented immigrants is exactly what this country needs to grow its economy. There are nearly no unemployed top talent, and talent (including immigrants) grows demand. Look how many startups are spawned from the top tech company veterans. Taking in brilliant immmigrants is a defenst against the whole industry shifting the balance of power to a different country.
There is definitely a shortage of top tech talent domestically in USA if you consider that USA has more top tech companies than the rest of the world combined. The only way to reasonably distribute top talent to those companies is to either accept lots of high quality immigrants or to move some of them abroad to spread out the competition for talent.
Well, there's no sign of that so far. The US pays by far the most for talent, so if you're actually skilled and talented, it's the place to be. All those amenities you're talking about are not a concern for the high level skilled people we want to retain and bring to the US.
I agree that keeping top AI talent (along with several other key sectors) in the US is absolutely critical to maintain America's superpower status long term. It seems to me that the US became a power and remained one for so long in no small part because of the opportunities provided to foreigners here and being a 'nation of immigrants' which attracted the best and brightest from abroad to contribute to the economy, defense, and more. I was lucky enough to have been born in the US so I've got no need to go through the visa process but hearing from friends and colleagues, it sounds like an absolute nightmare. Still, the US could get away with it because we were the place everyone wanted to be - now with our difficulties in healthcare, declining infrastructure, violence issues (perceived or real, especially around guns), and low education standards paired with many EU nations being very attractive and welcoming, I think we need to dramatically step up our work trying to be competitive attracting talent.
The comment suggested people who still lived overseas. The foreign born talent you work with lives in the US now. If anything it suggests the best talent moves to the US for the better salary and quality of life.
Those are all good points, but the rest of the world turns out, pound for pound, Engineers that are just as good and crazy.
But have access to fewer resources, networks, capital, markets etc..
Also, the % of US immigrants that are on the 'high end' is relatively smaller.
Migration to the US, when you include off the books migration, is a little bit towards the low skilled end.
But definitely the smaller relative portion of 'hardcore talent' is still actually quite large in real terms, and yes, they do disproportionately contribute. It frankly doesn't take a large quantity.
I've seen many companies hedging their bets and having satellite offices in Canada, Ireland, India, Singapore, Australia to be able to retain international talent.
At some level, these immigrant workers are not factory workers to be easily replaced. They tend to have lots of institutional experience and drive (demonstrated by the fact that they uprooted their lives elsewhere to live in a new country in the first place).
I've had the pleasure of working with many such people. But the signs are clear. There are fewer Americans who want to do tech jobs and the administration isn't allowing highly educated immigrants to come and work. Even the ones they allow have a miserable time just managing paperwork and following the law.
What do execs do to retain these folks? Just move jobs to where the talent is at. Talent lost, taxes lost, model immigrants lost, vibrancy lost. :(
Like any other nation, the United States is in a competition for top talent. People who have other viable choices -- who are in many cases also those who stand a high chance to create a ton of value in the US -- will now put the US lower down in the priority list.
As Victor Hwang put it [1]:
"While other countries fight a global war for top talent, America just packs up the tent.
Facts:
- Immigrants start new businesses at twice the rate of native-born Americans.
- Immigrants founded 44 of the 100 largest companies in America."
It is interesting because the data point is not an isolated example.
From Dijkstra to Torvalds, there are a many prominent examples of top notch computer talent from Europe choosing to live in the USA. The resulting brain drain leaves fewer top people in Europe, and more opportunities for Americans to benefit from that talent. Benefits range from their availability for American businesses to the fact that it is easier to meet and be inspired by that talent if you live in the USA. (Particularly if you live near a tech center like Silicon Valley.)
People seems to be forgetting that to poach talent, talent has to exist.
The only way a US company would even know the person exists is if they were doing amazing work in the respective country, meaning they, by definition, did amazing work in their country (breakthrough, papers, etc) all then pointing to benefit for said country.
Once that happens, if it happens, the person can choose to go to the US, or not. Not everyone desires to live here, regardless of money.
If you believe AI will create a ton of value, 1.8B into developing an ecosystem should get paid back relatively easy over some period of time.
Does it really matter for as long as the US has the economical power to import talent (and purchase innovation) as needed not only from Europe but the whole world?
So they might not be there physically, but this is not really a big concern if you're a US company. It might be different for the country as a whole though.
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