Ex-Google AI Pioneer Questions Value of Advanced Degrees in Rapidly Evolving Tech Landscape

Ex-Google exec says degrees in law and medicine are a waste of time because they take so long to complete that AI will catch up by graduation

As undergraduate degrees have lost their payoffs thanks to AI, young people have turned to advanced schooling to unlock jobs with salaries exceeding $200,000 (or in some cases, a $100 million signing bonus). However, one former Google leader says Gen Z should not be so fast to jump on the PhD train, as even doctoral degrees may have lost their edge. "AI itself is going to be gone by the time you finish a PhD. Even things like applying AI to robotics will be solved by then," Jad Tarifi, the founder of Google's first generative AI team, told Business Insider. Tarifi himself graduated with a PhD in AI in 2012, when the subject was far less mainstream. But today, the 42-year-old says, time would be better spent studying a more niche topic intertwined with AI, like AI for biology -- or maybe not a degree at all. "Higher education as we know it is on the verge of becoming obsolete," Tarifi said to Fortune. "Thriving in the future will come not from collecting credentials but from cultivating unique perspectives, agency, emotional awareness, and strong human bonds." "I encourage young people to focus on two things: the art of connecting deeply with others, and the inner work of connecting with themselves." Even studying to become a medical doctor or lawyer may not be worth ambitious Gen Z's time anymore. They take so long to complete in comparison with how quickly AI is evolving that they may result in students just "throwing away" years of their lives, Tarifi added to BI. "In the current medical system, what you learn in medical school is so outdated and based on memorization," he said. Tarifi is not alone in his feeling that higher education is not keeping up with the shifting AI tides. In fact, many tech leaders have recently expressed concerns that the rising cost of school paired with an outdated curriculum, is creating a perfect storm for an unprepared workforce. "I'm not sure that college is preparing people for the jobs that they need to have today," said Mark Zuckerberg on Theo Von's This Past Weekend podcast in April. "I think that there's a big issue on that, and all the student debt issues are...really big." "It's sort of been this taboo thing to say, 'Maybe not everyone needs to go to college,' and because there's a lot of jobs that don't require that...people are probably coming around to that opinion a little more now than maybe like 10 years ago," Zuckerberg added. Moreover, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that his company's latest AI model can already perform in ways equivalent to those with a PhD. "GPT-5 really feels like talking to a PhD-level expert in any topic," Altman said earlier this month. "Something like GPT-5 would be pretty much unimaginable in any other time in history." For existing AI-focused PhD students, the private-sector jobs pipeline remains strong. In fact, in 2023, some 70% of all AI doctoral students took private sector jobs postgrad, a jump from just 20% two decades ago, according to MIT. However, this increase has some academic leaders worried about a "brain drain" that could result from too many experts electing to work at tech companies -- versus staying back and teaching the next generation as professors. Henry Hoffman, the chair of the University of Chicago's Department of Computer Science, recently told Fortune that he's seen his PhD students get courted for decades -- but the salary lures have only grown. One student with zero professional experience recently dropped out to accept a "high six-figure" offer from ByteDance. "When students can get the kind of job they want [as students], there's no reason to force them to keep going," Hoffman said.

A Ex-Google AI Pioneer Says Getting a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence Is No Longer Worth It. Here's Why.

AI researchers are in high demand, with some offered billion-dollar compensation packages from Meta amid the ongoing AI talent wars. However, one AI pioneer, Jad Tarifi, who founded Google's first generative AI team after obtaining a Ph.D. in AI, would not recommend higher study to break into the field. In a new interview with Business Insider, Tarifi, 42, predicted that within the five to seven years it takes to obtain a Ph.D., most of AI's problems will be solved. "Even things like applying AI to robotics will be solved by then," Tarifi told BI. Related: AI Is Going to 'Replace Everybody' in Several Fields, According to the 'Godfather of AI.' Here's Who He Says Should Be 'Terrified.' Tarifi explained that obtaining a Ph.D. was only for "weird people" who were "obsessed" with a certain field because higher education required "a lot of pain" and at least five years of their lives. He recommended staying away from the Ph.D. route altogether or choosing to specialize in a subfield of AI that is still in its early stages, like AI for biology. Tarifi received a Ph.D. in 2012 from the University of Florida, where he worked on an AI theory that combined principles from neuroscience, geometry, and machine learning, according to his LinkedIn. He then joined Google, where he became a tech lead and manager for nearly a decade, working on models for Google's generative AI projects. Tarifi is now the founder and CEO of Integral AI, a startup that focuses on creating AI agents to act autonomously on behalf of users. Related: These 3 Professions Are Most Likely to Vanish in the Next 20 Years Due to AI, According to a New Report In the BI interview, Tarifi also warned prospective students from completing degrees in law and medicine, arguing that the information in these programs was "outdated" and memorization-based. Tarifi isn't the first person to warn students away from higher degrees. Venture capitalist Victor Lazarte said earlier this year that AI is "fully replacing people" in the legal profession. He predicted that AI would take over entry-level legal positions usually filled by recent law school graduates within the next three years.

Google's GenAI pioneer questions the relevance of 'painful' PhDs in AI. Says. 'You'll move much faster outside school'

For years, students and young professionals believed that advanced degrees were the golden ticket to success in technology. But as artificial intelligence reshapes industries faster than universities can update their curriculums, that belief is being put to the test. The latest voice to stir debate is Jad Tarifi, the man who founded Google's first generative AI team. In an interview with Business Insider, Tarifi argued that the traditional academic path may already be outdated. "AI itself is going to be gone by the time you finish a Ph.D.," he said, cautioning that those investing five or more years into doctoral studies might discover that the field has already moved on. Tarifi, who earned his own doctorate in AI in 2012 before spending nearly a decade at Google, did not sugarcoat the realities of pursuing a PhD. He described it as a "painful" process suitable only for the deeply obsessed. For everyone else, he suggested focusing on niches where AI is still in its infancy, such as biology, or skipping advanced studies entirely. "You will move much faster outside school," Tarifi said, adding that students risk throwing away years of their lives if they chase traditional degrees in a world where knowledge cycles are now measured in months, not decades. Interestingly, Tarifi believes the qualities most valuable in the AI-driven era are not purely technical. He told Business Insider that success may hinge on empathy, social skills, and emotional intelligence -- traits that help people use AI tools creatively and effectively. "The best thing to work on is more internal. Meditate. Socialize with your friends. Get to know yourself emotionally," he advised. This mirrors comments by Y Combinator founder Paul Graham, who recently warned that low-level programming jobs are already disappearing because AI is "good at scutwork." His advice: excel in something you love, because genuine passion is what drives mastery at levels AI cannot reach. Tarifi's warning comes at a time when computer science graduates across the United States are facing one of the toughest job markets in years. According to a New York Times report, many who once believed coding was a guaranteed path to six-figure salaries are finding themselves unemployed despite soaring tuition costs. Entry-level programming roles, once the industry's stepping stone, are being automated by AI tools that can generate and debug code in seconds. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports that unemployment among recent computer science graduates now exceeds that of art history majors. Students who applied to hundreds of jobs described the experience as "soul-crushing" and felt betrayed by the promise that a degree alone would be enough. With AI advancing at breakneck speed, both Tarifi and other industry leaders suggest that students need to think differently. Rather than focusing only on coding or degrees, they should look toward deeper problem-solving, specialized niches, and even the fundamentals of physical sciences. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has stressed that the next frontier of AI will require grounding in physics and real-world reasoning, not just software skills. The consensus from leaders across the tech world is clear: the bus has not left the station, but the ticket is no longer stamped with "PhD" or "computer science degree." What matters now is adaptability, creativity, and the willingness to learn continuously. For young aspirants, that could mean carving out a niche in AI-driven biology, focusing on empathy-driven design, or simply mastering a discipline that machines cannot easily replicate. As Tarifi summed it up, you don't need to understand every microprocessor to drive AI forward -- you just need to know what to do when the road ahead changes.