Overview

• Jad Tarifi, founder of Google's first generative-AI team and now CEO of Integral AI, said it is too late to start a PhD simply to capitalize on the AI boom.
• He argued the field will have moved on by graduation and maintained that only those truly obsessed with research should endure the years-long sacrifice.
• Tarifi advised focusing on nascent niches such as AI for biology or building practical experience outside formal doctoral programs.
• He extended his warning to other lengthy degrees like medicine and law, saying slow-moving curricula risk leaving graduates with outdated training.
• Contextual reporting noted industry claims that frontier models perform at PhD level and highlighted concerns about a growing brain drain from universities to the private sector.