A study by researchers from the University of Rochester found an exodus of artificial intelligence (AI) professors from North American universities to the private sector has reduced the prospect that graduate students will found new AI companies. Those graduates who did start a company usually attracted less venture capital, with the field of deep learning especially affected, according to "Artificial Intelligence, Human Capital, and Innovation," by Michael Gofman and Zhao Jin. This academic attrition could hinder innovation and economic expansion over time, the researchers suggest. The technology industry mostly ignored deep learning's potential until 2010, but interest grew as the Internet produced more data and new computer chips reduced the analytical burden. Large tech companies have hired many academic specialists, including two recent recipients of the ACM A.M. Turing Award honored for their work on neural networks.

The tech and automobile industries have aggressively pursued the idea of a driverless car, drawing another wave of academics out of the universities. In 2015, Uber hired 40 people from a Carnegie Mellon robotics lab, including research professors. Since then, industry interest in artificial intelligence of all kinds has increased, according to the study. Google and DeepMind, both owned by Alphabet, have hired 23 professors. Amazon has hired 17, Microsoft has hired 13, and Uber, Nvidia and Facebook have each hired seven.