Artificial intelligence is reshaping what and how college students study, and the institutions around them are moving fast to package that shift into degrees, contracts and training programs. Axios reported that San Diego State University added the first AI degree to the California State University system last fall, while California college students are varying in how they use and think about AI in academics, personal lives and future careers, according to a new San Diego State University study. **Students Under the New Curriculum** The SDSU-led study surveyed more than 94,000 students, faculty and staff across 22 California State University campuses and is considered the largest look at artificial intelligence in higher education to date. It found nearly every respondent had used AI, that most students feel the technology has positively affected learning and that many want more formal training. That is the basic shape of the new educational order: students are already using the tools, institutions are racing to formalize them, and the system is trying to turn a technological shift into a managed curriculum. The article said the majority of students believe AI will be essential to most professions and will play a significant role in their careers, but they are concerned about its impact on job security. Axios said last year the CSU system rolled out a custom educational ChatGPT at all of its campuses and California college students gained access to free AI training and resources. The article also said UC San Diego students can major in AI at UC San Diego and get an AI master’s degree at the University of San Diego. **The Institutional Response** The CSU system’s move to roll out a custom educational ChatGPT across its campuses shows how quickly institutions absorb and normalize new technologies once they are useful to administration and labor markets. The article said CSU’s ChatGPT contract expires in July and that an online petition with more than 3,400 signatures calls for the university system to cancel it and “invest in humans.” That petition is the clearest direct response in the story, and it points to the tension between institutional adoption and the people expected to live with the consequences. The article does not describe a victory, only a demand. The system still holds the contract, and the contract still expires in July. Axios reported that AI is also determining the studies U.S. college students pursue, with nearly half saying they have thought at least a fair amount about changing their major or studies because of the technology’s potential impact, according to recent polling from Lumina Foundation and Gallup. By the numbers, Axios said 14% of currently enrolled college students have thought “a great deal” and 33% have thought “a fair amount” about changing their major or field of study because of the effect AI could have on the job market or on specific industries. **Who Bears the Risk** The article said those thoughts are higher among male students, at 60%, than among female students, at 38%, and among those studying technology, at 70%, and vocational fields, at 71%, compared with business, at 54%, humanities, at 54%, and engineering, at 52%. Axios said 16% of students have changed their major because of the impact AI might have. Those numbers show the pressure moving downward through the education system. Students are not simply choosing fields of study in the abstract; they are reacting to the job market and to the threat that AI could reshape or erase parts of it. The institutions respond with degrees, contracts and training, while students adjust their lives around the decisions made above them. The article said colleges’ approaches toward AI are uneven, with some hesitant and others all in, and that students across campuses are embracing it. It was written by Kate Murphy and Avery Lotz and appeared 16 hours ago in Axios San Diego. The story is not just about a new degree. It is about how quickly higher education bends itself around the demands of a technology industry, while students are left to navigate the consequences with petitions, training modules and a shrinking sense of certainty about what their studies are for.
