What Is the Carnegie Mellon Artificial Intelligence Major?
The Carnegie Mellon artificial intelligence major is the Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence, known as the BSAI. It is offered by the Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science, which describes it as the nation’s first bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence and introduced it in fall 2018. Teaching comes from six units of the school: the Computer Science Department, the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, the Language Technologies Institute, the Machine Learning Department, the Robotics Institute, and the Software and Societal Systems Department.
The school says the curriculum focuses on how complex inputs such as vision, language, and very large databases can be used to make decisions or enhance human capabilities. Students take computer science, mathematics, statistics, computational modeling, machine learning, and symbolic computation, along with required coursework in ethics and social responsibility. Our overview of what Carnegie Mellon is known for places the program in the context of the wider university.
How Do Students Get Into the BSAI?
There is no application to the AI major from high school. Admission runs through the School of Computer Science, and the major is chosen a year later.
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Application | The student applies to the School of Computer Science through Carnegie Mellon’s Office of Undergraduate Admission. The BSAI admissions page tells applicants to mention their interest in the program in the personal essay. |
| Fall of the first year | All incoming School of Computer Science students start as undeclared majors and take roughly the same first-year curriculum. |
| Spring of the first year | A student who plans to choose the BSAI takes the mini course Concepts in Artificial Intelligence (07-180), then declares one of the school’s four majors: computer science, artificial intelligence, computational biology, or human-computer interaction. |
| Sophomore year and later | Students already in the school can move between its majors. A move into the BSAI requires 15-281 and 10-315 completed or in progress and cannot happen before the spring of the sophomore year. |
The program is direct about the one uncertainty in this path. Its FAQ states that technically not everyone is guaranteed acceptance into the AI major, that to date the program has not turned anyone down, that it has admitted anywhere from 35 to 50 new AI majors in the past, and that it reserves the right to cap the number because of capacity limits.
How Hard Is It to Get Into the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science?
This is the step that decides the outcome. Carnegie Mellon admits by college and does not publish admission figures for each one. The figures the School of Computer Science itself has published date from July 2015: 6,756 high school students applied, 350 were admitted, a rate of less than 5.2%, and about 150 were expected to enroll. The same account gave a 19% acceptance rate for the university’s other seven undergraduate programs that year. Given that gap, Oriel Admissions estimates that the school’s rate today remains well below the university-wide rate.
The current university-wide figures are these. For the Class of 2029, Carnegie Mellon admitted 3,859 of 34,867 applicants, an overall acceptance rate of 11.1%, and Early Decision admitted 553 of 2,680, or 20.6%. Enrolled students across the university posted a middle 50% SAT of 1500 to 1560. The School of Computer Science requires an SAT or ACT score. Our Carnegie Mellon admissions guide covers the full process, and our comparison of Carnegie Mellon and the University of Washington for computer science shows how its odds compare with a top public program.
What Do Carnegie Mellon Artificial Intelligence Majors Study?
The BSAI curriculum is published course by course.
| Area | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Mathematics and statistics core | 7 courses, including calculus in three dimensions, matrices and linear transformations, probability theory, and modern regression |
| Computer science core | 5 courses: imperative computation, functional programming, parallel and sequential data structures and algorithms, computer systems, and great theoretical ideas in computer science |
| Artificial intelligence core | 3 courses: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning I and II, plus natural language processing or computer vision |
| AI cluster electives | 4 courses, one from each of decision making and robotics, machine learning, perception and language, and human-AI interaction |
| Ethics | 1 course, chosen from options such as AI, Society and Humanity |
| School of Computer Science electives | 2 courses |
| Humanities and arts | 7 courses, one of them in cognitive science or cognitive psychology |
| Science and engineering | 4 courses |
The elective lists show how current the program is. The machine learning cluster includes Generative AI, Deep Reinforcement Learning and Control, and Machine Learning With Large Datasets. The decision making and robotics cluster includes Planning Techniques for Robotics and Autonomous Agents, and the human-AI interaction cluster includes Design of Artificial Intelligence Products.
How Is the Carnegie Mellon Artificial Intelligence Major Different From Computer Science?
Less than the separate name suggests. According to the program’s FAQ, the two majors start with the same core computing background. The AI major takes an additional statistics course in place of algorithm design and analysis. It has three core courses in artificial intelligence where the computer science major has a minor or concentration. Both have four electives in their own subject area and two electives from anywhere in the school. The AI major requires a course in ethics, and the computer science major requires a technical communications course.
Two practical points follow. All majors in the School of Computer Science have equal priority for enrollment in the school’s courses, so a computer science student is not shut out of AI classes. And the degree itself differs: the diploma shows Artificial Intelligence as the major, and the program advises students to make that clear on a resume because the degree is new.
Can a Student Transfer Into the AI Major Later?
From inside the School of Computer Science, yes, although the FAQ says transfers are decided case by case with no guarantee. From another Carnegie Mellon college the path is narrow: the admissions page describes limited availability, and a student must be at least finishing the sophomore year and have taken six of the core courses for the major. From another university it is narrower still. The program says the number of outside transfer students who can be accepted each year is extremely low because it is already at or near capacity.
For that reason, Oriel Admissions advises families to treat the choice of college on the original application as the decision that matters. A student admitted to engineering or to the humanities and social sciences who hopes to move into the BSAI later is counting on a small number of places.
Is There an AI Minor or Additional Major at Carnegie Mellon?
Yes. Since spring 2022 the program has supported a minor in artificial intelligence and an additional major, and both are open to students from any primary major. The school also has minors in machine learning, language technologies, robotics, and human-computer interaction. For students already majoring in AI who want to add computer science, the double-counting rules are strict: at most five of the twelve computer science requirements can count twice, which leaves seven additional courses, and the program suggests a concentration instead.
What Should an Applicant Interested in AI Put in the Application?
The program answers this in its own words: an applicant interested in the AI major should describe that interest, and any current experience in AI or related areas, in the personal essay when applying to the School of Computer Science. In the experience of Oriel Admissions, a strong file for this school shows depth in mathematics, a record of building or researching something, and a test score at or above the university’s middle range. Our guide to the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays covers how to present that work, and our computer science admissions strategy guide explains how a college that admits by school should change the rest of the list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science offers the Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence, which it introduced in fall 2018 and describes as the first such degree in the nation.
High school students apply to the School of Computer Science, not to the major. All students in the school start undeclared and declare a major, including artificial intelligence, in the spring of the first year.
Carnegie Mellon does not publish one. The university admitted 11.1% of applicants for the Class of 2029, and the School of Computer Science reported admitting under 5.2% of its applicants in 2015. Oriel Admissions estimates that the school remains well below the university rate today.
The program says it has admitted anywhere from 35 to 50 new AI majors in the past and that it reserves the right to cap the number because of capacity limits.
Not technically. The program states that not everyone is guaranteed acceptance into the AI major, and also that to date it has not turned anyone down.
Both share the same five core computing courses. The AI major adds a statistics course in place of algorithm design and analysis, requires three core AI courses, and requires an ethics course.
Only in limited numbers. A student must be at least finishing the sophomore year and have taken six core courses. An additional major and a minor in AI have been open to students from any primary major since spring 2022.
Take the most demanding mathematics available, learn to program, and describe the interest in AI and any related experience in the personal essay. The School of Computer Science requires an SAT or ACT score.
Sources: Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science: B.S. in Artificial Intelligence, BSAI admissions, BSAI curriculum, BSAI frequently asked questions, Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science: Meeting the demand (July 22, 2015), Carnegie Mellon Common Data Set 2025-2026, Carnegie Mellon Office of Undergraduate Admission: standardized testing, NCES College Navigator
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