UCSB Launches Dedicated Website for New B.S. in Artificial Intelligence as Inaugural Cohort Approaches
As UC Santa Barbara prepares to welcome newly admitted students to campus, the Department of Computer Science has launched a dedicated website for its upcoming Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at ai.cs.ucsb.edu. For prospective students deciding whether UCSB is the right place to study AI, the site offers the clearest picture yet of what that path will look like.
Set to begin in the 2026-27 academic year, the B.S. in Artificial Intelligence is designed for students who want to study intelligent systems in depth. While the AI and CS degrees share a common foundation, they diverge quickly in what they prioritize. CS remains the broader path across systems, software, and theory. The AI major is narrower and more deliberate, centered on learning-based systems, perception, and data-driven decision-making.
“Our goal is to give students a rigorous foundation and to help them develop the innovative mindset needed to drive the field forward and in the right direction,” said Teaching Professor and Vice Chair Diba Mirza. “I strongly believe that UCSB's collaborative and close-knit community offers the perfect environment to create the next generation of AI leaders.”
The curriculum reflects that different trajectory. Students build a mathematical and computational foundation in probability, statistics, and optimization, including new courses such as Data Programming and Analytics for AI (CMPSC 25) and Mathematics of Artificial Intelligence (CMPSC 135). They then move into machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and computer vision.
Just as important, the program treats responsible AI as part of the core, not an elective. Students engage directly with ethical questions through Ethics, Privacy, Fairness, and Bias in AI (CMPSC 183), alongside a capstone in which they design and build end-to-end AI systems on real-world problems, integrating modeling, data, and evaluation.
The degree itself grew out of a proposal two years in the making. “Artificial intelligence is the most recent computing revolution that is causing drastic changes to human civilization,” said Professor Tevfik Bultan, who first proposed establishing a dedicated AI degree in the Department of Computer Science. “The origin of artificial intelligence can be traced back to Alan Turing’s famous question, ‘Can machines think?’” added Department Chair and Distinguished Professor Divy Agrawal. “Over the next seventy-five years, AI will be integrated increasingly into all aspects of life,” he said, making clear the need for students trained not only to build these systems, but to shape their direction.
What gives the program its depth is not just the course list, but the surrounding ecosystem. AI at UCSB already spans areas such as health, education, security, systems, human-computer interaction, and the humanities. Students will have opportunities to engage with that broader landscape, including the Center for Responsible Machine Learning, the NSF AI Institute for Agent-based Cyber Threat Intelligence and Operation, the Mellichamp Initiative in Mind & Machine Intelligence, and the Center for the Humanities and Machine Learning.
“Artificial intelligence has rapidly risen to become perhaps the most important technological advancement of this decade,” said Umesh Mishra, Dean of The Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering at UCSB, noting that the new major builds on existing strengths across the campus.
How to Join the Program
The path into the major is phased. The first cohort will begin in Fall 2026. Students admitted to Computer Science for Fall 2026 who are interested in AI will have a chance to opt in after the SIR deadline. For all other students, standard change-of-major pathways will open in the 2028-29 academic year.
For more information, visit ai.cs.ucsb.edu.