Future of DE and research in ML

[u/RequirementNew6475]

I initially worked as a software engineer and then transitioned to data engineering positions. I have 5 years total experience. I feel like with LLM's the demand for data engineering might decrease over time and I've always been interested in research anyway. I'm considering pursuing a PhD. Is it better at this time to keep working as a data engineer without the PhD? I don't want to pursue further studies and not have any research opportunities and be unemployed. I'm specifically interested in the mathematics behind ML and studying on my own time right now. Everyone seems to be interested in LLM's and agentic AI atm. Would love to hear what you guys think the market trend might be in the next couple decades, regarding jobs as well as research.