Should Students Major in AI?
by David N., PhD
Should students major in Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
With a number of colleges now offering a major in AI, the question is understandable. But a better way to ask this question is to turn it into several questions, each nuanced with an ounce of wisdom.
After we explore the different purposes of AI, it will become clear why this question can be misleading.
Is your goal to use AI for purposes that do not involve making more AI?
This question should be addressed first, because most high school students who are interested in AI are interested in the applications of AI. These include making predictions about shopping behavior, improving medical diagnosis, and making manufacturing faster and cheaper.
AI is a tool that will help you save time and make better decisions, but the thing about AI is that it is only as smart as the food that you feed it. Ever heard of the phrase “junk in, junk out”? It means that if you train AI using data that is inaccurate, then the AI will make predictions that are inaccurate.
As time progresses, AI tools will be developed so that users only must feed it data from their respective industry, like people’s shopping behaviors. These AI tools will be easy to use and not require much coding.
Thus, for those interested in just using AI to be better at their jobs, it is not necessary to major in AI. In fact, it will be more important to understand people’s behaviors through studying humanities and social science so that you can know how to collect relevant data. However, it will be important to major in a subject that allows you to take courses on the fundamentals of AI.
Is your goal to build new AI methods?
For students who want to build AI or new computational tools to improve AI, then, yes, you should major in AI or the following: machine learning, computational statistics, computer science, applied math, and cognitive science.
To build AI or improve AI tools, you will need to have the skills to create an AI. These skills involve knowledge of computer science, algorithms, data science, calculus, and statistics.
Now that we have unpacked the question of “Should Students Major in AI?” into more nuanced components, it should be clear why this question glosses over very important considerations.
Whether or not you should major in AI depends on if you want to use AI to be better at what you do, or if you want to create new AI tools so that others can be better at what they do.
