FARGO: The artificial intelligence craze has come to the academic catalogues of American colleges and universities.
Dozens of schools have recently started majors, minors and graduate programs in AI, enticing students but also stirring questions about the speed with which they are constructing academic offerings.
Here are some things experts suggested considering before enrolling in an AI degree.
Know the program’s goals (and yours).
AI degrees may share names, but they do not have the same curricula – or even the same ambitions.
For example, Carnegie Mellon University, the first school in the United States to start an AI degree, focuses on theory and how the technology is constructed.
“Our major goal is to teach students how to understand the foundations of AI technology so they can go out into the world and design and build the next generation,” said Reid Simmons, a computer science professor who directs the major.
More often, universities are teaching students how to use AI in fields beyond computer science.
The University of North Dakota, which offers a doctorate in AI, teaches students how they could apply AI in fields including aircraft construction and medicine, said Ryan Adams, the dean of the College of Engineering and Mines.
“We can take these very difficult problems, use AI to help solve those problems,” he said.
Martial Hebert, dean of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science, said both approaches could be valuable.
“You just need to know that’s what you’re getting,” he said.
Look at the track record.
The quick development of programs has alarmed some in academia. Experts suggested students look to universities already known for computer science.
“The places that have been good at this kind of thing will remain good at this kind of thing,” said Charles Isbell, a computer scientist and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s chancellor. “The places that have no track record here have a lot of work to do in order to build a quality program. Some of them will, and many of them won’t.”
Isbell, whose university does not offer a stand-alone AI degree, added, “Name your top 50 departments. They didn’t just discover AI – they’ve been living in this space and having an impact far before the general population knew what the impact might be.”
Watch what employers do.
Deans and department heads routinely meet with employers to hear about their needs. At the same time, companies size up academic programs and the students who come from them.
University officials see hiring as a real-world indicator of academic quality, so as these new programs mature, ask about job placements and employer interest.
Simone Ludwig, who chairs North Dakota State University’s computer science department, said it would be obvious to companies which schools were turning out deficient students.
Remember there’s no consensus over whether AI degrees should exist.
Whether AI should be a stand-alone degree instead of a specialisation within computer science has been a subject of immense discussion in academic circles. A Computing Research Association newsletter described a debate about it at a conference last year as “one of the week’s most anticipated events.”
“I’m just sceptical of that level of specialisation being necessary,” Lisa Meeden, a Swarthmore College professor who sat on the conference panel, said in an interview this spring. “I just feel like there’s so much more to understand about computer science as a discipline than just what’s happening in AI – and I am a person who has been doing AI for 32 years.”
Supporters of AI degrees argue, though, that programs tailored to contemporary needs will better serve students and society.
“I don’t think it’s a fad,” said Andrew Armacost, the president of the University of North Dakota. Universities, he argued, need a role in AI “to offer balance, and to say we want to be involved in the creation of new technologies – but in a way that’s ethical and measured.” – ©2026 The New York Times Company
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
