On PhDs in the AI era: conviction about problems outlasts conviction about methods
micoolcho · x · 2026-10-24
- Quoted post: researcher Toru adapted his Stanford Vision Seminar talk into a blog post on doing a PhD amid rapid AI change, organized around three questions: what to work on, how to work with AI, and what a PhD is for — noting conviction about a problem lasts longer than conviction about a method.
- Replying, micoolcho (who quit his PhD years ago) empathizes with current PhDs' AI anxiety but disagrees that "life is long": life expectancy is an insurance statistic, not a planning tool — having nearly died in a plane crash 14 years ago, he notes life can also be short.
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