UC San Diego’s New AI Major is Here

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• Ioana Patringenaru- [email protected]

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By 2029, the major is expected to have 1,000 students enrolled. The first 200-plus undergraduate students begin in fall 2025.

By the time these students graduate, they should have mastered the ability to integrate software, hardware - and AI components - into computing systems, said UC San Diego computer science faculty member Mia Minnes, vice chair for Undergraduate Education within the UC San Diego Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Jacobs School.

To reach this level of expertise, students in the AI major will get an education with strong foundations in computer science, mathematics and statistics.

"AI has become a defining technology of our time. Students deserve a program that doesn't just train them to use today's tools, but also equips them with the intellectual depth to invent what comes next," said computer science professor Taylor Berg-Kirkpatrick, one of the faculty members leading the effort to create and launch the new AI major.

The students will also get hands-on learning experiences, including experience working on teams building and analyzing AI systems, in capstone projects and otherwise.

"The rise of large language models underscores just how important it is to train students rigorously in both foundations and emerging techniques," Berg-Kirkpatrick said.

Two Core AI Introductory Courses

All students in the major will take two new technical, specialized courses that provide upfront exposure to key AI themes and techniques in the first two years of their studies.

• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (CSE 25)
• Foundations of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (CSE 55)

"We created these two foundational AI courses and placed them near the beginning of the major so that students do not have to wait until they get through the required core math and computer science courses before starting to explore AI," said Minnes.

CSE 25, taken in their first year, gives students a look under the hood of AI models, to help them fully grasp that AI is a set of tools based on mathematics and algorithms. The students will also be introduced to the ways outputs from these tools can go wrong.

Referring to CSE 25, Trevor Bonjour, a computer science teaching professor and one of the lead faculty in the program, said "I'm especially excited about creating a CS1-equivalent for AI, an introductory course with minimal prerequisites that sparks curiosity and builds strong foundations."

CSE 55, taken in the second year, introduces students to the mathematical foundations of industry-grade tools and the frameworks where they're applied. The course builds skills in linear algebra, probability and optimization, and shows students how these three elements power modern AI systems.

All students will also take a new, required ethics course that has been created for the AI major specifically. Students in their senior year will also work on a required capstone project.

This reflects the AI major's three guiding themes: mathematical foundations, systems building, and ethics and societal impacts.

AI Pioneers are the Teachers

Students will be taught by a group of AI and machine learning (ML) faculty from across UC San Diego - including world leaders in computer vision, robotics, reinforcement learning, natural language processing and data mining - faculty whose research is highly relevant to industry and often of great interest to students.

Because these faculty members' research is constantly reinventing the field, the curriculum of the AI major will always reflect the latest developments in AI, including machine learning, large language models and the application of AI to real-world challenges.

Berg-Kirkpatrick, for example, investigates how to build AI systems that reason more faithfully and that integrate learning with structured forms of knowledge. "I see the major as a way to bring that spirit of curiosity and rigor to our undergraduates," he said.

Faculty are also developing new elective classes in a wide range of topics, such as:

• Artificial intelligence for biology
• Computational robotics
• Introduction to generative AI
• Machine learning for music
• Systems and architecture for machine learning

The electives will also be open to students outside the AI major.

High Quality AI Education

"As someone who works in AI education, this was a great opportunity to help design a curriculum that makes AI approachable from the start. My goal is for our students to graduate with the confidence and skills to tackle the important questions of tomorrow," said Bonjour, the computer science teaching professor.

He studies how students learn AI and machine learning concepts; what makes these ideas challenging; and how evidence-based teaching practices can support learning and strengthen student self-efficacy.

This AI learning will take place in parallel with the core lower division and core upper division courses that are required for all computer science majors - including the AI major.

The long-standing computer science major at UC San Diego offers broad flexibility within the upper-division computer science options. By contrast, the computer science AI major requires more upper-division coursework specifically in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The First Class of AI Majors

Students said they enrolled in the new major because they believe that AI is the future of the computer science field. They chose UC San Diego because of its reputation and the opportunities it offers.

Leena Banga said she was looking for an AI major that is anchored within computer science and engineering. The Revelle student became more interested in AI while doing an internship at the University of Pennsylvania last year. "I do think AI is the future," she said.

She hopes to be able to work as a research intern and is particularly interested in how AI could be applied to quantum computing. She chose UC San Diego for its reputation, which she hopes will help her stand out when it's time to look for a job.

Nicole Fong, another freshman, is particularly interested in applying AI to healthcare data. She is also interested in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. She chose UC San Diego for its affordability. A native of the Bay Area, she wanted to stay in California.

Meanwhile Aaryan Panda came all the way from Florida. There were no opportunities to study AI or work in the field in this home state, so he decided to make his way to California. He always loved math and coding, so studying computer science was an easy decision. AI is the next step in the field, he said. It's also in demand in industry. "The market for AI jobs is hot," he said.

Some, like Christine Antoine, are following in their parents' footsteps. Both of Antoine's parents are software engineers. She took an AI course while in high school and one of the projects she worked on in the class was using AI to detect whether a driver was distracted. She was hooked.

UC San Diego was the only campus offering an AI major among the schools she was interested in. "I really wanted to study AI here," she said.

Learn more about research and education at UC San Diego in: Artificial Intelligence

Topics covered:

• AI

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