President Trump’s decision to suspend a variety of work visas has left many policy analysts worried about what it could mean for long-term US innovation. In particular, the suspension of the H-1B, a three-year work visa granted to foreign workers in specialty fields and one of the primary channels for highly-skilled tech workers to join the US workforce, could impact US dominance in critical technologies such as AI. 

“America’s key competitors are going in a different direction,” says Tina Huang, a research analyst at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). “Historically the US has relied on talent from elsewhere to fuel the country’s technological dominance, and its key competitor nations are aware of this.” It’s likely those competitors will now use this window of opportunity to double down on attracting talent away from the US, she says, by designing even more expedited and lenient immigration policies.

Read the full article in MIT Technology Review.