Academic research in the USA today is entirely corporatized. Try publishing a paper on fine-tuning LLMs with the goal of creating agents capable of replacing t

Academic research in the USA today is entirely corporatized. Try publishing a paper on fine-tuning LLMs with the goal of creating agents capable of replacing the executive suite and the board of directors for major corporations and see what happens to your career. It's far worse today than what Eisenhower described c. 1960 in his final address to the nation, because so much of the research money is now doled out by corporate entities: > "Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present — and is gravely to be regarded." Unless you are independently (very) wealthy, you'll have to align your research with the goals of the funding entity, be that the corporate sector or a government entirely controlled by the corporate sector. You may find something useful and interesting to do within these constraints - but academic freedom is a myth under this system.