The mitochondrial damage caused glioblastoma cells to undergo autophagy preferentially by downregulating the expression of PARL and changing the ratio of BECN1/Bcl‐2 and the process of mitophagy was regulated by the PI3K/Akt/MAPK/mTOR/Ulk1 pathway. The gene discussed is AKT1; the disease is glioblastoma.