The University of Pennsylvania launches its first degree in AI

This is the first Ivy League school to offer a program designed in response to the "urgent need for AI engineers."

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February 15, 2024

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The University of Pennsylvania announced that it will launch its first bachelor's degree in AI. The university is one of the few in the United States that offers a program designed in response to the "urgent need for AI engineers."

The announcement occurs amid a debate in the country regarding how this new technology should be regulated as well as the problems that it entails. One of the most controversial issues recently was over AI-generated photographs of the singer Taylor Swift.

The degree program, which is planned to begin this fall, will be a "leap forward for the Penn engineers who will lead in developing and deploying these powerful technologies in service to humanity," said Penn Interim President J. Larry Jameson:

Inventive at its core, Penn excels at the cutting edge. Data, including AI, is a critical area of focus for our strategic framework, In Principle and Practice, and this new degree program represents a leap forward for the Penn engineers who will lead in developing and deploying these powerful technologies in service to humanity. We are deeply grateful to Raj and Neera Singh, whose leadership helps make this possible.

The University of Pennsylvania is the first Ivy League school to offer this degree

The university points out that students who decide to do this specialized degree will be able to develop skills in machine learning, computer algorithms, data analysis and advanced robotics:

Students in the program will be empowered to develop responsible AI tools that can harness the full knowledge available on the Internet, provide superhuman attention to detail, and augment humans in making transformative scientific discoveries, researching materials for chips of the future, creating breakthroughs in healthcare through new antibiotics, applying life-saving treatments and accelerating knowledge and creativity.

On the other hand, this degree in artificial intelligence is quite new. According to the University of Pennsylvania, the school would be the first in the Ivy League to offer a program designed only to better understand this type of technological advance.

However, it is not the only university that is implementing degrees in artificial intelligence. Quartz reported that both Purdue University and Carnegie Mellon also offer bachelor's degrees in artificial intelligence, which they have also been developing for several years.