Five ways a Ph.D. can shield your career from Artificial Intelligence

All over the world, new challenges are advancing rapidly, changing how we see the work scenario and how it evolves. In this situation, people have the concern and uncertainty of being replaced by new technologies such as AI, which many consider a threat, because it is replacing many tasks, thus forcing applicants to redefine their skills to enter certain fields of work.

However, it’s not all negative. According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Global AI in Employment Barometer 2024, AI is significantly boosting labor productivity. The report also revealed a 25% increase in job opportunities for professionals with AI-related skills. As a result, more individuals are pursuing a Ph.D. to future-proof their careers against the disruptions posed by intelligent systems. In this article, you'll discover five key ways a Ph.D. can shield your career from the impact of artificial intelligence.

It prepares you to perform activities that AI cannot perform

To obtain a PhD is to experience academic training at the highest level. It is in itself a more complete specialization in specific areas, which provides creative skills with a critical and ethical character that cannot be replaced by AI; besides being very important when solving highly complex problems that require human judgment and a greater context of the situation.

As an example, we can mention the case of Dr. Nuria Olive, an engineer and doctor in artificial intelligence, who carried out work on the application of AI ethics. She has been part of technology projects and government advisory committees, being very influential in the field of research in Europe.

“An advanced society should use artificial intelligence to augment human potential, not to replace it,” Nuria has expressed on several occasions.

After obtaining her PhD, doors opened for her in various important positions and positions, applying her knowledge to the development and manipulation of AI responsibly.

It allows you to be a leader in research and innovation.

Doing a PhD is a good strategy for training leaders of research projects that facilitates being at the forefront of advancing new technologies. Thus, having specialized training, such as a PhD, is a crucial advantage in the successful implementation, monitoring and design of AI systems.

According to the Global AI Barometer - Jobs 2024, 69% of CEOs worldwide are aware that AI will require a large part of the workforce to have new skills. For this reason, leaders with PhDs must be trained to take charge of all these transformation processes.

Dr. Pedro Salcedo Lagos, PhD in AI, has lectured on the impact of AI in labor courts, showing how the influence of academic research directly influences judicial practice.

Provides you with transferable skills to reinvent yourself

The complexity of problems, effective communication, and project management are skills valued in various fields, allowing professionals to adapt to various roles. A doctorate allows you to consolidate these skills to reorient your career according to the labor demand that comes your way, thus gaining a competitive advantage in the leadership of transformation processes.

In current PwC studies, it points out that the competencies required by employers in professions engaged in AI are changing rapidly, by 25%, faster than in other occupations and tasks. Doctoral studies prepare professional students to take on these frequent changes with greater agility.

Provides authority and credibility in a world mined by misinformation.

The world is surrounded by fake news, unfounded information, and people who claim to be experts in exposing a subject. The lack of truthfulness in information is increasingly questionable. A doctorate in this sense offers you distinction and helps you to consolidate your work and experience in front of different people and institutions.

An outstanding example is the one reported by one of the main scientific databases in the world, Scopus 2023, which states that 85% of the indexed scientific publications were written by PhD researchers, which highlights the reliability of their knowledge.

COVID-19 can also be mentioned as an example that marked this reality. While there was a wave of misinformation in social networks, experts with PhDs were called by various media, international organizations, and governments to offer guidance based on evidence. Their analytical and critical capacity made them leaders of the moment, offering results with professional credibility.

5. Ease of access to global networks and exclusive opportunities.

Doctoral students have in their favor a path full of opportunities and doors that open more easily. The networks they build throughout their preparation not only offer them advanced knowledge, but also immerse them in fields full of knowledge, networks of professional, academic, and institutional connections of a very high level.

It is a competitive advantage over other degrees of instruction, surpassing even the much-feared AI. A person with a Ph.D. may be more eligible for scholarships, project funding, and even employment opportunities that others may not be able to develop.

Dr. John Atkinson, who holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh, works in education, coordinating AI training programs and playing an important role with international institutions to improve education systems through technology. He is part of another clear example of how AI can be leveraged much more by pursuing a PhD.

Strengthen your future career with a doctoral degree

Despite the amazing advances of artificial intelligence, there is something that AI cannot do: think with criteria, question the established, connect ideas from experience, and act with ethical awareness. Human intelligence not only processes information, but it also interprets it, transforms it, and projects it towards new horizons. This capacity continues to be unique.

In this scenario, doing a doctorate is much more than achieving an academic degree. It is to be trained in depth, to exercise critical thinking, to learn to research rigorously, and to find creative solutions to real problems. Those who go through this stage prepare themselves not only to understand the changes, but also to actively influence them.

Choosing to pursue a doctoral degree means opting for a role of intellectual leadership.

Intellectual leadership. Faced with an automated world, where many tasks are delegated to technology, professionals capable of guiding, evaluating, and making sense of its use are needed. Deep knowledge is not replaced: it is transformed into competitive advantage when combined with human skills such as empathy, vision, and ethical judgment.

A PhD is not just a goal, it is a tool for designing the future. Instead of passively adapting to what is coming, those who are trained at this level have the ability to propose, create, and lead new ways of doing things. And in today's fast-changing environment, that makes a real difference.

Don't wait for the future to surprise you. Prepare to lead it with the backing of a doctoral education.