BUFFALO, N.Y. — The University at Buffalo announced Thursday there are 73 students enrolled in the AI Master's program for this fall. It expects an additional 50 students to enroll next semester.
When the program was first introduced in the spring of 2020, only five students registered.
The University at Buffalo first began offering students access to learn cutting edge technology in the 1970s with machine learning and then pattern recognition in the 1990s. Today, the school continues to make investments in technology like artificial intelligence.
“The growth of our master’s program focusing on artificial intelligence has been nothing short of spectacular,” Kemper E. Lewis, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, said in a statement. “It shows that we’re providing students with in-demand skills that they can use for the betterment of society.”
Lewis attributes the rise in enrollment partly because of students' interest in OpenAI and ChatGPT. Other important factors are investments from UB and New York State to grow the infrastructure in AI research and education. UB has hired more than 200 faculty members researching Artificial Intelligence.
From New York State, investments around AI have also been influential. Empire AI is a $40 million statewide research consortium created by Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers that focuses on responsible AI research and education. UB is a founding member of Empire AI and will soon be home to the consortium's supercomputing center.
There have also been federal research grants including $20 million to establish the National AI Institute for Expectational Education and $10 million to create the Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI. These investments allow students to apply what they've learned on research projects in real world opportunities.
“All of these factors have led to a tremendous amount of momentum and innovation in research and education programs focused on artificial intelligence at the University at Buffalo,” Lewis said.
The 12 to 18-month program provides students with a foundational knowledge in AI and subsets including machine learning, programming languages, deep learning algorithms, and advanced artificial neural networks.
Students at UB don't need to be in the master's program to study AI. The university said there are numerous programs in their Department of Computer Science and Engineering and other academic units that provide both undergraduate and graduate students with opportunities to learn about AI.
Alums of AI programs at UB have taken jobs at Amazon Web Services, NVIDIA, Visa, Radical.AI, Salesforce, as well as Buffalo-area companies like M&T Bank and CUBRC.
“It’s really an exciting time to be at UB, especially for our students engaged in learning about the incredible opportunities that AI presents for tackling society’s greatest challenges,” Lewis said.