Coming to the US to learn was one of the best decisions I made. Looking back during my early days, it felt very likely that I would go down a more academic or research path but on closer inspection it was not all what it seemed.
I always thought the most cutting edge work was being done in research labs with the industry playing catchup to ideas, however as I speak to my friends in academia and I see the work which moves the industry forward, it seems clear that academia is in regression.
By the second year of my masters couple years ago, it became evident that there was a pressure on students to follow consensus. The idea was for students to express themselves, only as long as they were within the ideas that were right. I would say some of that applies to workplace too but the dynamic is different. Academia seems to have moved on finding truth, it seems too focused on proving a truth which they are certain about.
Remote study for students is porbably the worst outcome and will decline quality we see. I don't think innovation and progress will be coming from academia over the next decade. They have gotten lazy and don't have skin in the game (what will go wrong for you if you fail?). When there are no consequences for mediocrity, then it's just a slow decline into irrelevance.
Progress most likely comes from smartest people building cool stuff in the wild, not many papers but demos. Maybe it is for the better, but who knows some of the best people can always surprise you.