First-year Lina Banga from Fremont, California, became interested in artificial intelligence (AI) af..
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Artificial intelligence fever in U.S. universities nMIT, UC San Diego, etc. AI majors ‘popularity’n Computer science graduates suffer from employment difficultiesn Most students in related departments are on the decline this semester
First-year Lina Banga from Fremont, California, became interested in artificial intelligence (AI) after using a chatbot and wanted to understand more about how the underlying technology works. After participating in an artificial intelligence summer program for high school students at the University of Pennsylvania, she decided to choose this new major at UC San Diego.
“It’s really cool to get the opportunity to be at the forefront of this field,” said 18-year-old Banga. “If the university hadn’t offered a new AI degree, I would have chosen computer science,” he said.
Thanks to the AI craze from Silicon Valley, AI is emerging as the most preferred undergraduate major for college students, the New York Times reported on the 1st (local time). The popularity of computer science majors, which has been popular so far, has fallen due to concerns about employment, and AI majors are replacing them.
For example, at the University of South Florida in Tampa this semester, more than 3,000 students enrolled in the newly established Department of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity. At UC San Diego, 150 new students enrolled in a new AI major. New York State University’s Buffalo Campus has established an independent “Artificial Intelligence and Sociology Department” and has also established new interdisciplinary degrees in areas such as “Artificial Intelligence and Policy Analysis.”
The rapid popularization of AI services such as ChatGPT and the soaring value of technology companies such as chipmaker Nvidia are fueling the artificial intelligence boom on campus.
Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are in a “military competition” by pouring billions of dollars into the AI industry. Those investments also include fostering next-generation researchers, such as Google and Microsoft’s announcement this year of plans to provide artificial intelligence training for millions of students and adult workers.
With the AI craze, universities are competing to meet the growing demand of students and industries. Over the past two years, dozens of U.S. universities have announced new AI departments, majors, minorities, courses, interdisciplinary intensive courses, and other programs.
For example, in 2022, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) created a new major called “Artificial Intelligence and Decision Making.” Students in the program learn how to develop artificial intelligence systems and study how technologies such as robots interact with humans and the environment. About 330 students enrolled in the program this year, making it MIT’s second-largest major after computer science.
“Students who prefer to use data to solve problems are more drawn to AI majors,” said Asu Ozdaglar, vice president of MIT’s Schwartzman College of Computing. Students interested in applying artificial intelligence to biology or healthcare are also flocking to this new major, he added.
The rapid spread of smartphones and social media over the past 15 years, and the industry’s commitment to high-income tech jobs, have fueled an increase in enrollment in college computing majors. According to the nonprofit Computing Research Association (CRA), an annual collection of data from about 200 universities resulted in about 173,000 undergraduate students majoring in computer science in the spring semester of 2024, up from about 65,000 a decade ago.
However, 62% of computer-related departments are seeing a decline in undergraduate enrollment this fall semester, according to an October report from the Computational Research Institute. The reason for the decline is job insecurity among students.
Some big tech companies are laying off thousands of employees, and recent computer science graduates say they have had greater difficulty finding employment in tech this year. Companies like Amazon have also begun requiring software engineers to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to write code, which could potentially reduce demand for new programmers.
Of the 133 computer-related departments that participated in the Computational Research Association report, 66% said they “somewhat” or “very agree” that computer majors who graduated this year are having difficulty finding employment.
“The difference is palpable, especially when you see outstanding students struggling to find employment,” said Andy Menili, program director for the Faculty of Software Engineering at the University of Rochester (RIT).
Although enrollment in computer science majors has decreased overall this year, many schools have reported an increase in enrollment in sub-fields such as artificial intelligence (AI). Tracy Camp, Director General of the Society for Computing Research (CRA), described the change as “a new era in which computing degrees become more specialized.”
The same goes for UC San Diego’s artificial intelligence major. This major belongs to the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. As part of the program, the university has developed two new courses in the field of artificial intelligence foundation and machine learning. “Students should also take advanced mathematics and think about the social impact of new technologies,” said Mia Minnes, director of the undergraduate computer science education department.
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