Was in an ML PhD program. Cut my losses and left with my Master's. It was a combination of: 1) I just don't think I have the intellect or ideas to excel in the

Was in an ML PhD program. Cut my losses and left with my Master's. It was a combination of: 1) I just don't think I have the intellect or ideas to excel in the field as I would need to. 2) Current-day academic process was antithetical to how I wanted to work. An absolute slog. 3) AI started to reach peak exuberance near when I quit, such that I looked at the job market and saw nothing but scammy startups milking VCs for easy cash, with dozens and dozens of candidates lined up for unrealistic salaries. Everyone everywhere was and still is misinterpreting what these models are and what they can actually do. The trough of disappointment is going to be apocalyptic for this one. Once NNs are making decisions that face tough legal accountability and auditing, they are going to be dropped like a tungsten rod from God. I'm now in a pretty comfortable job doing analysis in an engineering field, so it all worked out for me. I love the work and problems I have to solve; while the pay isn't top-tier, I'm comfortable with steadily improving my software engineering and analysis skills, rather than running the grant treadmill or competing in the ML researcher job market.