Biggest drawback these days is funding (Govt. is not liking research with all fund cuts) and long term opportunities for folks doing research.

Indeed. It seems, at least in America (I’m less familiar with the situation abroad) that computer science researchers who want to do longer-term work are getting squeezed. Less funding means fewer research positions in academia. Industry has many opportunities, especially in AI, but industry tends to favor shorter-term, product-focused research as opposed to longer-term work with fewer immediate prospects for productization. This is a great environment for many researchers, but researchers who want to work on longer-term, “blue-skies” projects might not find a suitable position in industry these days.

There are still opportunities, but they aren’t paid nearly as well as less researchy positions in industry. US post-doc salaries at state universities aren’t that high.