Want to Major in AI? These Colleges Are Paving the Path

One thing is clear about artificial intelligence, which is improving and advancing at warp speed: it will radically change our society, and likely in ways that we can’t yet visualize. So it’s not surprising that colleges are starting to create majors in AI with emphases on the nuts and bolts of how AI works, the ethics of it, and its intersection with business, in an effort to prepare students for the new world they will face.

According to CNBC, as of early 2025, 11 different schools have majors in AI, including the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Texas at San Antonio. Three more schools, including the University of Southern California, offer business degrees with a focus on AI. We profile three schools’ programs below.

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon, which created the first AI computer program in 1956, was also the first university to create a major in AI, in 2018. Students who are interested in pursuing a Bachelor of Science in AI must first get accepted to the university’s School of Computer Science; they can then opt to pursue the AI major at the end of their first year. According to the major’s web page, “The program and its curriculum focus on how complex inputs — such as vision, language and huge databases — can be used to make decisions or enhance human capabilities.”

Students study subjects including computer science, math, probability, computational modeling, and machine learning. Requirements also include classes in ethics and social responsibility. Note that even though high school seniors can’t apply directly into this major, if they’re interested in pursuing it, they should mention it in their application.

Arizona State University in Tempe 

Arizona State is one of the universities offering an AI major through a business lens. According to the major’s web page, with a mix of classroom work and experiential learning, including internships and a capstone project, “students will learn how AI technologies work, how to deploy it successfully within abusiness, and are given opportunities to practice these skills in an organizational setting under the guidance of world-class business faculty and leaders.” Students are required to take courses in several different disciplines, including business, computer science, writing, calculus, and behavioral science. Specific courses include data and technology governance in business, and transforming business with AI. Students apply into this major when they’re applying to ASU.

Purdue University

Purdue offers three different undergraduate degree programs focused on AI, and high school seniors can apply directly into their chosen major. The first is a Bachelor of Arts in AI, targeted towards students who are proficient in calculus but want to take a liberal arts approach to studying AI. The major is housed in the philosophy department and is for students interested in studying the ethics of AI, rather than those interested in developing technologies.

The second is a Bachelor of Science in AI, which is geared towards students who want to understand AI through the lens of math, and perhaps pursue a career in the technology sector working with AI. Students in the major take courses so they can understand the tools behind AI and learn how to apply them in the real world.

The third major, a BS in electrical engineering with an AI and machine learning concentration, is a scientific rather than mathematical approach, targeting those who want to understand AI, but don’t necessarily want to develop new AI technologies. According to the major’s home page, “This major is for people who are science-curious and want to work in a space where innovative technology is developing yet don’t want to engineer the system or people who want to explore the human aspects of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data. It is also for the people building the technology and writing the code who recognize their obligation to use technology and data responsibly.”

The number of AI programs highlighted in the CNBC article and the variety of Purdue’s approaches to studying AI hint at what is likely to be a larger trend: more and more colleges will be adding AI majors, and they’ll be approaching and examining this technology from all sorts of angles.

Written By: Katie Bacon

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