In just a few weeks, the University of North Texas will launch a brand-new Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence program. It joins a growing list of institutions to explore a new frontier of artificial intelligence in higher education.
But what does it really look like to major in AI?
Artificial intelligence and machine learning courses aren't new for UNT, said Lofti ben Othmane, the program coordinator and a professor in the department of computer science and engineering. The university has taught courses in the industry for over a decade now and launched its master's of science in artificial intelligence program in 2020, he said.
But as undergraduate interest and enrollment in AI coursework continue to grow alongside demand in the industry, faculty saw an opportunity for a new domain, ben Othmane said.
David Keathly, associate chair for undergraduate studies in computer science and engineering at UNT, said the goal is to allow students to build core foundational skills in computer science while exploring AI across disciplines, from math and natural sciences to fields like healthcare, sociology and criminal justice.
"We have several courses in our department and we're developing some new ones, but we also want to give the students the opportunity to explore the use of AI in other disciplines," he said. "There are a number of departments at UNT that are spinning up AI-related courses."
Keathly led the committee charged with developing the program curriculum, a process he said began about a year and a half ago — starting with market research to learn where needs of the industry are and what skillsets employers are looking for.
The degree's complete curriculum catalog, released last week, involves 120 semester hours across three main areas — foundational courses, which include technical writing, calculus, and lab sciences courses; major requirements, which include courses on computing, software engineering and development, cybersecurity, machine learning and algorithms; and the application domain, a required 18 hours of AI coursework that can be chosen across any UNT department.
This interdisciplinary approach is designed both to allow students to customize their degree to what their interests are and to reflect the computer science and engineering field's evolving role as a service industry — where the focus is increasingly on using innovation to solve problems that exist in other industries, Keathly said.
"We're trying to build better tools to help people solve those problems," he said. "That's why we want students to have the ability to go take some courses in some of these other areas that they may be interested in, not enough to go get a biology degree, but enough to be able to support somebody at a pharmaceuticals company or something like that (who) wants to use those kinds of tools."
While much of the program's coursework utilizes preexisting courses, faculty also developed four new degree-specific AI courses, three of which are launching this fall.
Another key aspect of the program's coursework still in development involves teaching students how to program AI tools ethically and responsibly, Keathly said. He said the committee is currently working on developing courses that tackle topics like governance and security in LLMs, an evolving concern as the prevalence of AI grows across industries.
"One of the things that's kind of weaved throughout the coursework is that we have to be responsible in how we do this," he said.
While the program does not currently have any enrolled students due to administrative delays in listing the degree in the university's system, ben Othmane said that based on indicated interest, they expect many incoming freshman and underclassmen to switch their majors to AI.
"Students (will) come because they understand that we are in an evolution where we are adding artificial intelligence capability into the system," he said.
Keathly said he is particularly excited about the program's potential to interact with multiple departments across the university as AI tools are used more frequently in non-engineering or computer science-related industries.
"We want to be sure that people have the right background so they can be successful," he said. "Sometimes that doesn't happen if everything is done organically in that one department if they don't have that expertise. So we're really becoming kind of a service industry to all these different areas."
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