Republican leader Vivek Ramaswamy faced flak for his recent observation on how trades will soon become the most coveted professions as ChatGPT would not be fitting pipes or replacing roof tiles. Social media users asked whether the Ohio Governor candidate would advice the same thing to his children — to become a welder rather than pursue white collar jobs that run the risk of getting replaced by AI. “The jobs that AI could soon displace are “white collar” ones, but ChatGPT won’t be fitting our pipes or replacing our roof tiles anytime soon. Counterintuitively, that’s likely to drive more young people to become welders, electricians & machine operators. “The trades” may soon become the new professions,” Vivek Ramaswamy posted. “Sounds like a good reason to end the H-1B program,” one user wrote, reacting to Vivek Ramaswamy’s post. H-1B is the program that allows American companies to hire from foreign countries. The H-1B issue has emerged as a contentious issue after the USCIS recently revealed that 120,141 H-1B visa applications have been selected for 2026. US tech workers started demanding the end of the H-1B programs so that Americans do not lose their jobs to their foreign counterparts.In December 2024, Vivek Ramaswamy championed a reform of H-1B programs and argued that US companies need to hire from foreign countries as US culture encourages mediocracy and therefore is not producing top talent. Now, with his argument that Americans are losing white collar jobs to ChatGPT, social media users pointed out that another option to save jobs for Americans is to end the H-1B program. “Sounds like you’re familiar with my consistent view that it’s a deeply flawed program that needs to be fixed or gutted,” Ramaswamy replied to one user.Social media users asked whether by ‘fixed’ he meant more Indians in the system. When Ramaswamy ran for president, he said he would “gut” the system for H-1B worker visas if he won the White House. The current system is badly broken and it should be based on merit, not lottery, Ramaswamy earlier said.
