This fall, Drexel University plans to welcome its first class of students majoring in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. From communities pushing back against AI data centers popping up across the nation to fears that AI will take jobs from a wide array of industries, it is no surprise that a technology as controversial as generative AI comes with strong opinions.

Despite these fears, however, is this major a smart decision for the student population overall? Will a major like this last?

Small—or even larger—companies utilizing AI for advertisements, “artists” generating songs to be used on TikTok and streamed on music platforms, and entry-level job positions being replaced with AI are all real-life examples of how businesses are increasingly turning to AI to churn out work faster. According to Pew Research, 53 percent of adults believe that AI will worsen people’s ability to think creatively, with only 16 percent believing it will truly benefit people in this regard. Another Pew Research study shows that as of 2026, 52 percent of adults are more concerned than excited about AI, while only nine percent say they are more excited than concerned. The percentage of concerned adults has slowly increased year by year since 2021. Even terms like “A.I. brain fry” have emerged, a state of mind in which someone has cognitive overload due to excessive use of artificial intelligence.

All of that said, this is humanity's new competition. Is it smarter to figure out how to work alongside AI or to combat it at all costs?

Whether you like it or not, AI has become a crucial part of some workplace settings around the globe. With its growing use, the pace at which businesses operate has accelerated, creating new expectations for how fast employees should complete certain tasks. This is where opinions on AI become more complex and nuanced for some – knowing that AI has its detriments to current society while also acknowledging that it will only continue to advance and may be utilized even more in years to come. Data collected in 2025 shows that 91 percent of businesses plan to increase AI implementation into their companies, suggesting that AI is not simply a trend but a way for companies to take something they deem useful and rearrange their organizational structures in response to it.

Tracing this all back to Drexel’s new Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning major, is it truly smart to implement a major like this? It really depends on how you look at it and what industry you are trying to enter.

For Drexel as a school, it is smart to implement this major in the sense that students will undoubtedly enroll in these classes. A school known for engineering, Drexel would be a bit behind the curve if it did not create a curriculum for  leading technological innovations like artificial intelligence and machine learning. If you have goals and aspirations to be up-to-date with the technology industry, you would most likely be interested in learning how AI functions.

That being said, do Drexel students have the right to have mixed feelings on implementing a major like this?

Absolutely.

Computer science students, creative students from all industries, journalism students, science majors—the list could go on and on—have all felt and witnessed how much the job market has shifted against them ever since generative AI has become more widespread. Pair this with data center anger, worry for the future behavior of society, and the concern of artificial intelligence being able to train future models by storing human and personal thoughts (considering that approximately up to 54 percent of people, according to a study done by George Mason University, use AI as a way to regulate emotions and store personal thoughts—which is, interestingly, a very complicated opinion for another day.

So while it is a bit too early to tell how this major unfolds, the subject of AI to any degree warrants mixed opinions, while the course can come in handy for those interested in the future of technology, to others, it may serve as a fearful reality check until stronger laws and regulations are put in place, which I believe is becoming increasingly necessary.