Artificial intelligence and machine learning now shape decisions in medicine, media, finance, government, and the arts. At Ithaca College you'll learn to build these systems and to explain what they are actually doing, combining computational problem-solving, data-driven reasoning, and clear communication. You'll graduate with the tools to build models, and advocate for when to use them responsibly.
The major begins with foundations in programming and mathematics, learning to solve problems in code and to reason with calculus, linear algebra, and statistics. From there you'll move into data and machine learning coursework: structuring and working with real data, designing and querying databases, and building and evaluating models. Restricted electives let you go deeper in the direction that interests you, whether that is probability and data science, algorithm design, language processing, or games and robotics. You'll finish with either an advanced machine learning course or a project of your own design, developed with a faculty mentor.
Compared with the computer science major, AI trades some breadth in systems and software engineering for real depth in data, mathematics, and modeling. Because the major sits inside a liberal arts curriculum, you can pair it with courses in psychology, economics, journalism, music, health sciences, politics, or another field you want to grow your understanding of. That pairing is often what makes the technical skill matter.