Should you do an AI PhD? Thoughts and advice from a 2026 PhD grad.

One of the questions I’ve gotten most frequently over the years is some version of “should I do an AI PhD?” I’ve answered this enough times now — and gotten to see how many of these decisions played out — that I figured it might be useful to just write my thoughts down. I’m also about to finish my own PhD, so it seems like a natural time to reflect on the decision.