Something strange happened at University of California campuses this fall. For the first time since the dot-com crash, computer science enrollment dropped. System-wide, it fell 6% this year after declining 3% the previous year, according to reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle. Even as overall college enrollment climbed 2% nationally, students are bailing on traditional CS degrees.
The one exception is UC San Diego, which is the only UC campus that added a dedicated AI major this fall. This all might look like a temporary blip tied to news about fewer CS grads finding work out of college. But it is more likely an indicator of the future, one that China is much more enthusiastically embracing. As reported last July, Chinese universities have leaned hard into AI literacy, treating AI not as a threat but instead as essential infrastructure. Nearly 60% of Chinese students and faculty now use AI tools multiple times daily. Schools like Zhejiang University have made AI coursework mandatory, while top institutions like Tsinghua have created entirely new interdisciplinary AI colleges. In China, fluency with AI is not optional anymore; it is table stakes.
U.S. universities are scrambling to catch up. Over the last two years, dozens have launched AI-specific programs. MIT’s AI and decision-making major is now the second-largest major on campus. As reported in December, the University of South Florida enrolled more than 3,000 students in a new AI and cybersecurity college during its fall semester. The University at Buffalo last summer launched a new AI and Society department that offers seven new, specialized undergraduate degree programs, and it received more than 200 applicants before it opened its doors.
The transition has not been smooth everywhere. When speaking with UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Lee Roberts in October, he described a spectrum with some faculty leaning forward with AI and others with their heads in the sand. Roberts, a former finance executive, was pushing hard for AI integration despite faculty resistance. A week earlier, UNC had announced it would merge two schools to create an AI-focused entity, a decision that drew faculty pushback. Roberts had also appointed a vice provost specifically for AI. He noted that no one will tell graduates not to use AI on the job, yet some faculty members are effectively saying that right now.
Parents are playing a role in this rocky transition, too. One admissions consultant noted that parents who once pushed kids toward CS are now reflexively steering them toward other majors that seem more resistant to AI automation, including mechanical and electrical engineering.
But the enrollment numbers suggest students are voting with their feet. According to an October survey by the nonprofit Computing Research Association, 62% of respondents reported that their computing programs saw undergraduate enrollment declines this fall. But with AI programs ballooning, it is looking less like a tech exodus and more like a migration. The University of Southern California is launching an AI degree this coming fall; so are Columbia University, Pace University, and New Mexico State University, among many others. Students are not abandoning tech; they are choosing programs focused on AI instead.
It is too soon to say whether this recalibration is permanent or a temporary panic. But it is certainly a wake-up call for administrators who have spent years wrestling with 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 they will keep arguing about what to do while students transfer to schools that already have answers.