Linguistics PhD oral exam?

Today's SMBC:

Mouseover title: "In the final round, they pelt you with eggcorns."

The Aftercomic:

Yesterday's SMBC:

Mouseover title: "The worst thing is how every time you yell at it, it acknowledges your suffering and tries to hug you."

The Aftercomic:

There may be a connection, in that quite a few recent Linguistics PhDs are taking jobs focused on AI alignment…