Something strange happened on the University of California campus this fall. For the first time since the dot-com bust, computer science enrollments have declined. Systemwide, it’s down 6% this year, after a 3% decline in 2024, the San Francisco Chronicle reported last week. Students are abandoning traditional CS degrees even though overall college enrollment is up 2% nationally, according to January data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
One exception is UC San Diego. It is the only UC campus to add a major dedicated to AI this fall.
All of this may seem like a blip related to the news that fewer CS graduates are finding jobs in college. But it is more likely that this is an indicator of a future that China is embracing with much more enthusiasm. As MIT Technology Review reported in July, Chinese universities have stepped up their capabilities to leverage AI, treating it as essential infrastructure rather than a threat. Nearly 60% of Chinese students and faculty now use AI tools multiple times daily, schools like Zhejiang University have made AI courses mandatory, and top institutions like Tsinghua have created entirely new interdisciplinary AI universities. In China, being proficient in AI is no longer an option. That’s table stakes.
American universities are struggling to keep up. Over the past two years, dozens of AI-related programs have been launched. MIT’s “AI and Decision-Making” major is now the second-largest major on campus, the school says. As the New York Times reported last December, the University of South Florida enrolled more than 3,000 students in its new AI and Cybersecurity College for the fall semester. Last summer, the University at Buffalo launched a new “AI and Society” department offering seven new professional bachelor’s degree programs and received more than 200 applicants before opening.
The transition did not go smoothly everywhere. When I spoke with UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Lee Roberts last October, he explained the spectrum. Some faculty are “leaning forward” on AI while others are “bowing their heads in the sand.” Roberts, a former finance executive from outside academia, was eagerly pushing AI integration despite opposition from faculty. A week ago, UNC announced it would merge the two schools to create an organization focused on AI, a decision that sparked backlash from faculty. Roberts also appointed a vice chancellor for AI. “No one tells students after they graduate, ‘Do the best you can, but with AI, you’re going to have problems,’” Roberts said. “But our faculty is saying that right now.”
Parents also play an important role in this difficult transition. David Reynaldo, who runs the admissions consulting firm College Zoom, told the Chronicle that parents who once pushed their kids toward CS are now reflexively steering them toward other majors that seem more resistant to AI automation, including mechanical and electrical engineering.
However, registration numbers show that students are voting in person. According to a survey conducted last October by the nonprofit Computing Research Association (whose membership includes computer science and computer engineering departments from a variety of universities), 62% of respondents reported a decline in undergraduate enrollment in their computing programs this fall. But as AI programs proliferate, this looks more like a migration than a technological exodus. The University of Southern California plans to offer an AI degree program this fall. The same goes for Columbia University, Pace University, New Mexico State University, and others. Students don’t give up on technology. Instead, they are choosing programs that focus on AI.
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It is too early to tell whether this realignment is permanent or a temporary panic. But it’s certainly a wake-up call for administrators who have been struggling for years to figure out how to handle AI in the classroom. The debate over whether to ban ChatGPT is ancient history at this point. The question now is whether American universities can move fast enough, or whether students will continue to debate what to do while transferring to schools that already have the answers.
