American tech companies have been complaining for decades about the cap on the number of high-skilled visas. Some lawmakers have proposed creating an artificial intelligence (AI) visa specifically designed for AI talent. 

The good news is that AI talent from around the world still wants to come to the U.S. more than anywhere else to work in Silicon Valley or attend Stanford or UC Berkeley, two leading AI research schools.

The bad news is that when Baobao Zhang, assistant professor of political science and senior research associate in the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute, surveyed AI researchers she found that “69% of those who currently live in the U.S. say that visa and immigration issues are a serious problem for them conducting AI research.”

Read more in the Marketplace article, “Immigration reform seen as key to U.S. AI leadership.”