- By Supratik Das
- Fri, 25 Apr 2025 03:30 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Even as the US aggressively pursued a strict "America First" policy and restricted immigration during the tenure of former President Donald Trump, immigrant entrepreneurs still lead the American artificial intelligence (AI) sector. According to an analysis by the Institute for Progress (IFP), reported by Axios, 60% of the leading privately-held AI firms in the United States have an immigrant founder.
Of the 42 US companies included in Forbes' "AI 50" ranking of 2025, 25 were either co-founded or founded by immigrants. Interestingly, India takes the top position with nine founders, followed by China with eight and France with three. Australia, the UK, Canada, Israel, Romania, and Chile also feature, each contributing two founders. Jeremy Neufeld, Director of Immigration Policy at IFP, emphasized that the US’s leadership in AI has been heavily reliant on its ability to attract top global talent. “If we’re going toe-to-toe with China, which graduates more STEM professionals, our edge comes from our ability to bring in the best minds from around the world,” Neufeld said. However, he warned that this advantage could erode due to growing immigration barriers and global competition for skilled workers.
Indian Entrepreneurs Leading AI Innovation
Indian-origin entrepreneurs are leading the AI revolution in the US, with some of the most promising AI startups being led by them:
• Abhinav Gupta and Deepak Pathak co-founded Skild AI, which is a startup that specializes in robotics and embodied intelligence.
• Aravind Srinivas founded Perplexity AI, an upcoming AI-driven search engine platform.
• Arvind Jain, Piyush Prahladka, and T.R. Vishwanath started Glean, a workplace search platform using AI to enhance productivity.
• Ashwin Sreenivas started Decagon, which is working on generative AI tools for businesses.
• Pankaj Gupta started Baseten, a platform assisting developers in deploying machine learning models at scale.
• Vipul Ved Prakash started Together AI, which is developing open-source AI models and infrastructure.
Vipul Ved Prakash, founder of Together AI, Ashwin Sreenivas, Co-founder of Decagon, and Pankaj Gupta, co-founder of Baseten. | Credits: X
This trend isn't new to anyone — 65% of firms in the AI 50 list in 2023 were founded by immigrant founders, while in 2019 it was 66%. Most founders entered the US initially on student visas before starting to succeed, as an indication of the role that skilled immigration is playing in bringing US technological leadership.
As the competition for world AI dominance heats up, experts emphasize the imperative for the US to simplify its immigration laws and continue to be a premier destination for international innovators.