Google AI Founder: Skip Law and Med School, AI Will Replace Them
▼ Summary
– A former Google AI pioneer warns that advanced degrees in law or medicine may become futile due to rapidly improving AI capabilities.
– He advises against pursuing PhDs unless one is obsessed with the field, as AI could solve many problems before graduation.
– Tarifi suggests that current medical education is outdated and based on memorization, making it a poor investment of time and money.
– He recommends focusing on niche AI applications like biology or prioritizing personal development over specialized education.
– The article notes that if AI progress stalls, there could be severe consequences like physician shortages, despite these warnings.
The founder of Google’s first generative AI team has issued a stark warning to aspiring professionals in medicine and law, suggesting that artificial intelligence may soon render traditional advanced degrees in these fields obsolete. Jad Tarifi, who left Google in 2021 to launch his own AI startup, argues that the rapid evolution of AI capabilities could make years of specialized education and training a poor investment of time and resources.
In a recent interview, Tarifi expressed skepticism about the value of postgraduate education unless driven by deep personal passion. He pointed out that medical and legal training often emphasize memorization and outdated practices, skills that AI systems are increasingly mastering. According to him, dedicating years and significant financial resources to earn these degrees might amount to wasting one’s prime years.
Tarifi holds a PhD in artificial intelligence himself but admits that even his expertise does not cover the latest developments in hardware like microprocessors. He believes the breakneck speed of AI progress means that by the time someone completes a doctoral program, many of the field’s current challenges will already be solved. His advice? Focus on highly specialized, emerging niches such as AI applications in biology, or consider skipping advanced academia altogether.
This perspective aligns with broader Silicon Valley optimism, or concern, about AI’s trajectory. Figures like OpenAI’s Sam Altman have claimed that AI already operates at a PhD level of intelligence in certain domains. Tarifi takes this a step further, suggesting that people should invest less in technical specialization and more in personal growth: meditation, social connection, and emotional self-awareness.
Yet this outlook is not without its critics. Current AI systems still struggle with complex, real-world tasks in law and medicine, often producing errors or lacking nuanced understanding. The reality is that today’s AI cannot replace human judgment in high-stakes environments like courtrooms or operating rooms. If Tarifi’s predictions prove premature, the consequences could be severe, especially given existing shortages in healthcare and legal services worldwide.
If AI does advance as rapidly as some anticipate, the structure of professional education may need fundamental redesign. But until then, those pursuing careers in these fields face a dilemma: bet on technology making their training irrelevant, or trust that human expertise will remain indispensable.
(Source: Futirism)
