A decent chunk of the work a student does during a PhD is stuff that their advisor would have done in much less time, but are intentionally delegating to the student to allow them to learn.
So, I don't think AI changes the way expertise is earned. It might change the cost tradeoffs depending on where AI costs eventually settle.
The current consensus is that domain experts get the most out of using AI on problems. How will domain expertise develop when AI is doing the work?
I’m not saying that there won’t be another approach that builds on the strengths of AI, but we have to look for that and develop it.
There’s a lot to talk about.