Something strange happened on the campus of the University of California this fall. Computer science enrollment fell for the first time since the dot-com crash. System-wide, it collapsed 6 percent this year After a 3 percent decline in 2024, the San Francisco Chronicle reported this past week. Even as a college’s overall enrollment Nationally, there was a 2 percent increase. — according to January data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center — students are bailing on traditional CS degrees.

One exception is UC San Diego – the only UC campus that has a Dedicated AI major this fall.

All of this may seem like a temporary shock to the news about low CS grads finding work right out of college. But this is more likely the future, which China is embracing with great enthusiasm. As MIT Technology Review reported last JulyChinese universities have leaned heavily on AI literacy, presenting AI not as a threat but as a necessary infrastructure. About 60% of Chinese students and faculty now use AI tools multiple times a day, and schools like Zhejiang University have mandated AI coursework, while top institutions like Tsinghua have created entirely new interdisciplinary AI colleges. In China, fluency with AI is no longer optional. This is the table stain.

Scramble to catch up with American universities. Dozens of AI-specific programs have launched in the past two years. MIT’s “AI and Decision Making” major is now Second largest major On campus, the school says. As the New York Times reported in December, the University of South Florida enrolled more than that. 3,000 students In one New AI and Cyber ​​Security College during his fall semester. University at Buffalo Last summer Launched a new “AI and Society” department that offers seven new, specialized undergraduate degree programs, and received Over 200 applicants Before they open their doors.

The transition has not been smooth everywhere. When I spoke with UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Lee Roberts in October, he described a spectrum — some faculty “leaning forward” with AI, some with “their heads in the sand.” Roberts, a former finance executive who came from outside academia, was pushing hard for AI integration despite faculty resistance. A week ago, UNC announced that it would happen. Merging two schools to create an AI-focused institute — a decision that drew pushback from faculty. Roberts also appointed a vice provost specifically for AI. “No one is going to tell students after they graduate, ‘Do the best you can, but if you use AI, you’re going to have problems,'” Roberts told me. “Yet we have faculty members effectively saying this.”

Parents are also playing their role in this rocky transformation. David Rinaldo, who runs admissions consultancy CollegeZoom, told the Chronicle that parents who once pushed kids toward CS are now steering them toward other majors that seem more resistant to AI automation, including mechanical and electrical engineering.

But the enrollment numbers suggest that students are voting with their feet. According to one Survey In an October survey by the nonprofit Computing Research Association — whose members include computer science and computer engineering departments from a wide range of universities — 62% of respondents said their computing programs saw a drop in undergraduate enrollment this fall. But with AI programs ballooning, it’s looking less like tech exodus and more like migration. University of Southern California. Beginning of AI degree This is the coming autumn Columbia University, Pace Universityand New Mexico State Universityamong many others. Students are not abandoning technology. Instead they are opting for AI-focused programs.

It is too early to say whether this recalibration is permanent or a temporary panic. But it’s certainly a wake-up call for administrators who have spent years wrestling with how to handle AI in the classroom. The debate about banning ChatGPT is ancient history at this point. The question now is whether American universities can move fast enough or whether they will continue to debate what to do when students transfer to schools that already have the answers.