University students are increasingly enrolling in AI majors

The New York Times reported Monday that the growing number of AI programs springing up around the country are in many cases attracting a growing share of students when compared to majors advertised simply as “computer science.” More than 3,000 students this semester enrolled in a new AI and cybersecurity college at the University of South Florida in Tampa, the Times reported.

AI programs are a hot trend in universities and colleges, as they seek to capitalize on the popularity of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. The University of Washington announced a $10 million campuswide AI initiative last month. Penn State recently announced a wide-ranging initiative designed to ensure that students, faculty and staff are “equipped to lead responsibly in an AI-driven economy.”

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill controversially announced plans to consolidate two of its schools to create an AI college. At Arizona State University, the rapper will.i.am is slated next spring to lead an AI course called “The Agentic Self.”

Many other universities are rebranding their computer science schools or integrating AI into majors more generally.

According to the Times, an “A.I. and decision-making” major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has become the second-most popular at the university, after computer science.