A new undergraduate major in artificial intelligence will be offered by the College of Information Sciences and Technology beginning in the fall. The Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence Methods and Applications (AIMA) program is designed to prepare students to leverage the strengths and benefits of AI while ensuring its socially responsible and ethical use. “As AI increasingly becomes an important driver of the global economy, demand is high for well-trained professionals who have both the technical and interpersonal skills to lead in this new era of innovation,” IST dean Andrea Tapia says.

The AIMA program was developed to prepare students to design, implement, evaluate, and deploy AI-based solutions that extend human abilities in complex real-world applications. The major will equip students with knowledge and expertise in math, computer programming, machine learning, and generative AI, while emphasizing the socially responsible and ethical implications of AI. Students will identify problems that can be addressed by AI technologies, learn the AI methodologies and skills needed to develop solutions, and master the ability to communicate solutions and risks to stakeholders.

The college has a history of teaching and researching in the field: Nearly half of IST faculty are involved in AI and AI-related research, and the college is home to the Nittany AI Alliance and the Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence. The addition of the major puts Penn State alongside a select group of institutions including Carnegie Mellon, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania in offering a bachelor of science degree specifically in artificial intelligence.