The 'next phase' of AI could spell trouble for hedge fund PhD quants, according to eFinancial.

Just read a fascinating piece from on eFinancial about hedge funds diving headfirst into generative AI, and it’s ibtresting how fast this space is evolving. Eric Schmidt, Google’s former CEO, spoke at Citadel and made a bold statement that even the sharpest minds in finance might struggle to keep up with the pace of AI innovation.

Schmidt mentioned that AI bots like ChatGPT are already nailing language semantics and are on the brink of mastering "huge context windows" and automated coding.

He also emphasized "agents" as the next big wave.

Schmidt also said AI is already performing at 80-90% of a PhD level in areas like physics and chemistry. If that final gap closes, hedge funds might have to rethink their obsession with hiring PhDs.

What do you think? Are we heading toward a future where AI reshapes finance entirely, or is this just hype?