“companies do not need as many PhD’s as before, since they can recruit bachelor’s or master’s students who can contribute immediately and directly to AI-based products following the standardized process.”
Big tech hired deep learning PhDs at huge salaries and let them research what they liked, betting on a revolution five years out. The revolution became products, and products want standardized process, not freedom. Bachelor’s and master’s graduates now do that work. The students who signed up for the old deal are graduating into a market that no longer wants them, and one of the people who sold it to them says sorry.