According to a Google AI veteran, medical, legal, and PhD degrees may become outdated in the AI future.

In a recent interview, Jad Tarifi, who established Google’s first generative AI team, stated that he would not advise young people to pursue a PhD in order to capitalize on the AI craze, despite the fact that Silicon Valley appears to be going crazy over AI talent, with researchers and engineers receiving millions of dollars in offers from tech companies like Meta, OpenAI, and Google.

In an interaction with Business Insider, Tarifi said, “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. So either get into something niche like AI for biology, which is still in its very early stages, or just don’t get into anything at all.”

The University of Florida awarded Tarifi a PhD in artificial intelligence, but he claims that doctoral studies are just for “weird people” like him because they require giving up “five years of your life and a lot of pain.”

“I don’t think anyone should ever do a PhD unless they are obsessed with the field,” Tarifi told the publication.

He further noted that with the advancing pace of AI, people can achieve a lot more outside of school.

“If you are unsure, you should definitely default to ‘no,’ and focus on just living in the world … You will move much faster. You’ll learn a lot more. You’ll be more adaptive to how things are changed,” Tarifi added. “In the current medical system, what you learn in medical school is so outdated and based on memorization,” Tarifi said, while noting that people end up “throwing away” eight years of their lives for advanced degrees.

So what should one do to succeed in the AI era, you ask? According to Tarifi, humans should cultivate their abilities and empathy since, although the hard sciences can be acquired, “emotional attunement” and “good taste” are necessary for being skilled at triggering and utilizing AI.

“The best thing to work on is more internal. Meditate. Socialize with your friends. Get to know yourself emotionally,” he stated.