UChicago launches new master’s degree in applied AI

UChicago launches new master’s degree in applied AI

New nine-month program prepares technically experienced students to move beyond AI fundamentals and build, deploy and lead with emerging technologies

The University of Chicago is launching its first degree program dedicated exclusively to AI.

The Master of Science in Applied Artificial Intelligence program, which will be offered through the Physical Sciences Division and the Data Science Institute, will welcome its inaugural cohort in autumn 2027.The new degree was developed for a changing AI landscape. Designed for students who already possess a strong technical foundation, the full-time, nine-month program combines advanced AI study with hands-on application.

“As generative AI advances at an unprecedented pace and AI agents become increasingly prevalent, there is a growing need for practitioners who can move beyond foundational machine learning and deep learning expertise and take the next step into the frontier of applied AI,” said Senior Instructional Prof. Arnab Bose, the faculty director of the program.

“This program is designed to bridge that gap, equipping students with the conceptual knowledge and practical skills to harness the capabilities of foundational models and AI agents in real-world settings.”

Students will complete four core courses spanning AI foundations and principles; advanced architectures and applications; AI security, safety and governance; and value creation and leadership with AI.

From there, students choose five electives organized across three focus areas: AI in practice, frontier AI and performance AI. Students take at least one elective from each area, ensuring exposure to different dimensions of AI while leaving room to tailor the remainder of the curriculum to their interests. Elective offerings include courses in multi-modal agents, production AI, quantum computation, biomedicine, asset management and an AI practicum.

Students will put AI into practice from the very start of the program, tackling real-world problems across their courses and building a professional portfolio that demonstrates what they can do.

“From the first day of class, students are solving real problems, not preparing to someday solve them,” Bose said. “The curriculum weaves together rigorous AI theory and hands-on application, so that every concept learned is grounded in practice and every project is informed by first principles.”

That approach is also informed by faculty whose backgrounds span academic research, entrepreneurship and the development and deployment of AI in industry.

Batu Gundogdu, associate clinical professor in the new master’s in applied artificial intelligence program, said employers increasingly need AI professionals who can do more than understand the underlying technology. They need practitioners who can translate a business need into an AI solution, anticipate what can go wrong, test and refine their work and ultimately deliver.

“Every course in the program is designed as a use-case application: students build a working solution to a real problem while the underlying theory is introduced along the way, so the science is learned in the context where it will be used,” Gundogdu said.

The new degree launches amid significant investment in artificial intelligence across UChicago.

In 2026, the University announced the Mansueto Faculty of Mind and Machine Challenge, a nearly $200 million initiative to recruit, retain and support 20 leading scholars using AI and computational approaches across disciplines.

UChicago is also expanding interdisciplinary AI research and education across fields ranging from the physical and biological sciences to economics, medicine, law and the arts and humanities.

The new master’s program brings that momentum into a new professional graduate experience within the Data Science Institute, preparing students to contribute to a field that will continue to evolve long after they graduate.

Students will study in person at UChicago’s downtown campus, placing them close to employers and off-site experiences in a global business and technology hub.

The inaugural master’s in applied artificial intelligence cohort will begin in autumn 2027, with the application portal opening in September 2026.

Space in the inaugural cohort will be limited. Prospective students can learn more about the program at its first virtual information session on Sept. 22.

—This article originally appeared on the Data Science Institute website.