There has been a lot of talk about the US H-1B visa fee being increased from $5,000 to $100,000. What was surprising was this policy's positive reception by Silicon Valley executives. At first, one would think they were just being sycophantic or trying to avoid upsetting Trump.
When AI started going mainstream, I had a realization. Yes, AI is not ready to replace most white-collar work. Instead, these companies are offshoring work to humans who stay in their home country and work at a far lower salary. The new H-1B visa pricing accelerated this strategy.
They can now do aggressive mass-layoffs, displace the blame to "AI" while using offshore consulting firms to obscure cheap new hires, and evade political consequences and social backlash at home. Silicon Valley is not betting on flawed AI, but on offshored AI-augmented humans.
They are making use of AI, partly as malicious compliance. Many think mass displacement requires AGI and it does not, look at Waymo. This blows open the doors to offshoring in-person jobs heavily occupied by new immigrants like taxis and trucking and white-collar jobs.
It's diabolical, but really clever.. and it seems to be working?
When AI started going mainstream, I had a realization. Yes, AI is not ready to replace most white-collar work. Instead, these companies are offshoring work to humans who stay in their home country and work at a far lower salary. The new H-1B visa pricing accelerated this strategy.
They can now do aggressive mass-layoffs, displace the blame to "AI" while using offshore consulting firms to obscure cheap new hires, and evade political consequences and social backlash at home. Silicon Valley is not betting on flawed AI, but on offshored AI-augmented humans.
They are making use of AI, partly as malicious compliance. Many think mass displacement requires AGI and it does not, look at Waymo. This blows open the doors to offshoring in-person jobs heavily occupied by new immigrants like taxis and trucking and white-collar jobs.
It's diabolical, but really clever.. and it seems to be working?
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