Thanks for your question.

I got into AI/ML and graphical models as an undergrad. I thought graphical models were very pretty, but I didn't really understand them back then very well (probably still don't..). Causal inference is the closest we have to "applied philosophy," and that was very interesting to me because I like both philosophy and mathematics (not that I am any good at either!) Also I had an opportunity to study with a preeminent person and took it.