MIT's Phillip Isola: the accelerating AI era is actually a great time to pursue a PhD
plopesresearch · x · 2026-10-05
MIT professor Phillip Isola responds to students wondering whether a PhD still makes sense in the accelerating AI age — and counterintuitively argues it's a great time to do one.
Quoting his post, PhD student teenhaci adds another reason: freedom. A PhD offers a rare window to slow down, think deeply about what the truly hard problems are, and choose how to explore them. That includes both the space to chase big ideas and the ordinary but valuable ownership of one's own time and energy.
A substantive counterpoint to the widespread anxiety that academia is being left behind by industry.
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