Just not showing up at a job which you have signed a contract for is rude and childish. Even if you are a superduper ai researcher.
Don't like it? Great, I don't either. Do something about at will employment.
The reality is that at will employment is abused 1 million to 1 by companies versus laborers. We truly, genuinely, do not give a single fuck when companies screw people over.
We shouldn't, then, care when people do it back. That sucks, sure, so change the laws.