RIT Launches New AI Bachelor's Degree for Fall 2026

The Rochester Institute of Technology is launching a new Bachelor of Science degree in Artificial Intelligence beginning Fall 2026. The program, housed within the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences (GCCIS), represents the university's most comprehensive undergraduate offering in the field to date.

According to RIT's official announcement, the 122 credit-hour program blends core programming and algorithmic principles with specialized study in areas like agentic AI, robotics, and large language models. Students will complete two blocks of cooperative education—paid work experience in their field—before graduation.

What's unique about this kind of new degree option for students is it's an entire bachelor's program focused on artificial intelligence, Matt Huenerfauth, dean of GCCIS, explained. The program aims to help students prepare to actually build the next generation of AI technologies so that they can do new capabilities.

The curriculum includes required courses such as AI Explorations, AI Tools and Techniques, and Artificial Intelligence and Law. First-year students take AI Explorations, which covers the history, ethics, data, and key algorithms of the field. The goal is for future AI professionals to recognize and consider the ethical and economic impact of AI solutions in global, environmental, and societal contexts.

Core courses focus on optimization algorithms, security of AI, large language models, reinforcement learning, and machine learning. Students select electives to tailor their experience to specific domains—some focus on computer vision and robotic systems, while others study natural language processing or AI policy and law.

Kal Rabb, Senior Lecturer in Software Engineering at GCCIS and one of the founding professors of the new major, holds 23 patents in the technology field. He compared the rapid rise of AI to a train already in motion, unable to be slowed or stopped. However, he explained that the focus should be on keeping it on the right track and ensuring that it's used wisely and ethically.

Everyone's talking about AI, and very few people really understand it, Rabb said. I think it is critical that society as a whole hears the facts rather than the media hype. And in all the students at RIT, whether you're in Golisano, or College of Engineering, or Liberal Arts, you're all living in a world that technology has built, and it is up to us to help you really get a clear picture of everything it is and isn't.

Rabb also noted that AI can be quite dangerous when misused. It's a bit like if you've never used a power tool and the first power tool you use is a chainsaw.

Starting Fall 2026, RIT is also launching a six-course minor in AI. The minor provides a rigorous technical foundation in core methods and computational principles that power modern AI. Students enrolled will study supervised and unsupervised learning, machine learning techniques, and applications in natural language processing, computer vision, geospatial computing, cybersecurity, and generative modeling.

The minor is open to all RIT majors, with enrollees needing to meet foundational programming experience requirements. This allows students in other disciplines to gain technical depth without committing to a full major.

RIT has long been recognized as one of the nation's best colleges for computing degrees. In 2026, U.S. News & World Report rankings named the computer science program No. 54. The university's first courses in AI were taught in 1986. RIT also created the nation's first undergraduate programs in information technology and software engineering.

Not everyone on campus is celebrating the expansion. Some students have voiced concerns about the new major, citing both the unwanted presence of AI in the College of Art and Design (CAD) and the College of Liberal Arts (COLA) programs and the environmental impacts AI poses.

On Oct. 25, 2025, a petition was posted to the PawPrints site, titled "It's not a 'debate' – Change your policies about generative AI." The petition, created by April Thomas, a third year 2D Animation student, expressed frustrations with the rising prevalence and encouragement of AI on campus, specifically in the School of Film and Animation.

Thomas's breaking point hit on Oct. 23, 2025, when self-proclaimed "artist-led generative AI firm and animation studio" Asteria Film attended RIT as a guest speaker in her Business and Careers in Animation class. She discussed the company spokesperson's explanation of how their AI model is both the first "clean" and "ethical" of its kind, which begs the question: Can an AI model be clean and ethical?

That's kind of what made me upset, because I picked RIT because of how they advertise being at the intersection of all these different fields, Thomas said. And now it feels like they're just heavily favoring the current tech industry and putting that over what their students came here for.

Thomas is currently working on her junior film, "Darcy's Big Day." The film is primarily 2D animated, along with pixel animation, live action, puppetry and 3D animation. Thomas's hands-on approach to her film highlights the dedication and emotion poured into it, something some say AI struggles to replicate.

There has also been speculation among students that the AI degree is one of the causes for the tuition increase. On March 19, 2026, RIT's Office of Budget and Financial Planning Services sent out a campus-wide email to students, discussing a raise in tuition for the 2026-2027 school year. Students enrolled in both RIT and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) will be expected to see a 4.5% increase in undergraduate and graduate tuition.

In an email from James Watters, Senior Vice President and Treasurer for the Office of the President, he stated that this wasn't the case. Watters explained that RIT's student bus services have experienced an annual expense increase of approximately $4 million after the end of a past 10-year contract with transportation provider, WeDriveU. He also offered similar insight regarding the increases to power expenses.

According to Watters, RIT has experienced increases in cost for electricity, gas and energy with suppliers Constellation, Direct Energy and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E), respectively. Many of the increases saw "aggressive negotiations" from RIT, stated by Watters, with the RG&E costs being regulated, meaning negotiation was not possible. In total, the energy costs have resulted in approximately a $5 million cost increase for RIT.

The program includes STEM-OPT Visa Eligibility, allowing full-time, on-campus international students on an F-1 student visa to stay and work in the U.S. for up to three years after graduation. Typical job titles for graduates include Machine Learning Engineer, Data Scientist, Automation Engineer, AI Solutions Architect, and AI Software Engineer.

Students can also pursue double majoring in AI. Because artificial intelligence is transforming every industry, pairing a BS in AI with a second major allows students to apply advanced technical skills in a meaningful, discipline-specific context. Whether combined with business, communications, science, health care, or another RIT BS degree, a double major with AI can help students translate AI capabilities into real-world impact.

For more information on the BS in AI, prospective students can visit the artificial intelligence Bachelor of Science degree webpage. New students with questions about how to be considered can contact the office of Undergraduate Admissions.

Whether the degree actually produces graduates who can build responsible AI systems—or just more people who can push buttons on existing models—remains to be seen. The tuition hike, meanwhile, is real enough to feel in your wallet regardless of what you study.

Artūras Malašauskas is an AI Systems Integrator with 20+ years of production-grade web engineering experience. He has designed, shipped, and scaled enterprise Python/PHP systems for logistics, SaaS, and public-sector clients. For the past year, he has focused exclusively on AI integrations: deploying open-source LLMs, building generative media pipelines (image, audio, video), and engineering multi-agent workflows for real production environments. His standard: reproducibility, security, cost-efficient inference—no vaporware. He documents and evaluates emerging AI tooling, separating verified capabilities from marketing noise. Technical editor at: muza-ai.eu, ai-verslas.lt, ai-naujinos.lt Connect on LinkedIn