A PhD is an apprenticeship in research – we can’t let AI take that away
A PhD is an apprenticeship in research – we can’t let AI take that away
Publish Date: 2026-03-12 15:14:00
Source Domain: theconversation.com
When OpenAI launched ChatGPT-5 in August of last year, many academics scoffed at the tech company’s claims its new artificial intelligence (AI) model possessed “PhD-level” intelligence.
After all, how could systems so prone to hallucination, flawed reasoning, and sycophancy compete with the world’s brightest young minds?
Yet academics are now routinely using tools such as ChatGPT to assist them in their research in much the same way they might once have relied on PhD students. Perhaps the most famous example is the world’s best-known mathematician, Terence Tao, who reports using generative AI as a mathematical collaborator.
I myself was recently turned from a skeptic into a believer when, over the course of a few months, I carried out a research project using a range of generative AI tools to perform tasks which I’d normally carry out in collaboration with my PhD students.
But this experience also highlighted a hidden danger of AI – one that shows why it would be unwise for anybody, whether they’re an academic or not, to substitute AI for actual apprentices.
The engine-room of research production
PhD students are the engine-room of research production that underpins much scientific progress. Under guidance from their supervisors, they devise hypotheses and experiments, theorise mathematical models, write proofs, and draft research papers.
But doing a PhD is much more than cheap research labour. A PhD degree is an apprenticeship in research. Today’s students are tomorrow’s research leaders. To get there, students learn how to ask the right questions, how to critique findings and, ultimately, how to take responsibility for the science they produce.
Much of my own research develops mathematical models to explain why computer systems and programs are and – just as often – are not secure. This involves developing mathematical definitions and theories, stating theorems and writing logical proofs, but also implementing defensive…
