Starting in the fall 2026 semester, RIT will offer a new Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to RIT’s BS in AI website, the degree will equip students with “technical depth and industry-informed experience” in the sector, and focus on both the principles and applications of AI. The degree will allow students to develop their expertise in topics such as robotics, generative AI and ethics in AI. A six-course minor in AI will also be launched, with students focusing on natural language processing, cybersecurity and generative modeling.
Matt Huenerfauth, dean of the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences (GCCIS), expressed excitement about the upcoming major.
“What’s unique about this kind of new degree option for students is it’s an entire bachelor’s program focused on artificial intelligence,” Huenerfauth explained. “What it helps students prepare to do is actually build the next generation of AI technologies… so that they can do new capabilities.”
First year AI majors will take an AI Explorations course, where they will learn an overview of the history, ethics and data of AI. A few of the required courses students should expect to take include AI Explorations, AI Tools and Techniques and Artificial Intelligence and Law.
Kal Rabb, Senior Lecturer in Software Engineering at GCCIS, is one of the founding professors of the new major. He also teaches Engineering of Web Based Software Systems and AI Centric Software, courses that AI majors can expect to take. Along with his BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester and an MS in Professional Studies (IT/Security and Instructional Design), Rabb holds 23 patents in the technology field. Rabb 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.”
Ethical Concerns
However, some students have voiced their 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. Her 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. Thomas 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.”
Along with being a member of both RIT’s Animation Club and RIT Fowl Play, 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, raising questions about how technology fits into the creative process.
“I think [AI] is more than capable of a lot of things, but it is absolutely not as perfect as some people want to advertise,” Rabb said. “I think it 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.”
Will This Affect Student Tuition?
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. The email cited that students’ tuition will support RIT’s 2035 Strategic Framework, Transforming Lives Through Creativity and Innovation. More information about the framework can be found on Reporter’s website.
Despite this, there has been speculation among students that the AI degree is one of the causes for the tuition increase. In an email from James Watters, Senior Vice President (VP) 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.
Environmental Sustainability Concerns
Other students have also expressed their concerns about the environmental impact of AI use. According to the Pew Research Center, there’s currently no registration requirement for data centers, so the estimated number of data centers in the United States is unknown. According to a publicly available Data Center Map that Pew cited, there are currently 4,088 data centers in the U.S., 133 of which reside in New York. A 2024 Report on U.S. Data Center Energy Use, produced by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and released by the U.S. Department of Energy, stated that in 2023, data centers consumed approximately 4.4% of total U.S. electricity and are expected to increase between 6.7% to 12% in 2028. Another 2021 analysis from Berkeley Lab found that a mid-sized data center consumes around 300,000 gallons of water a day. Additionally, according to a 2026 report by the United Nations, “the world has moved beyond a water crisis and into a state of global water bankruptcy.”
RIT’s Sustainable Campus site celebrates the university’s leadership in sustainability research. For eight years, RIT has been listed in the Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges, 13,000 solar panels have been installed on campus and 74% of its academic departments offer sustainability-related courses. Additionally, RIT is home to the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, which offers an M.S. in Sustainable Systems and a Doctorate in Sustainability.
Despite RIT’s sustainability efforts, students remain concerned about the legitimacy of offering an AI major, given AI’s unknown environmental impact. Huenerfauth explained that those who want to “mitigate some of these risks” must get involved to make the changes they wish to see.
Rabb said: “What we also have to do is recognize that whatever we create today, we will need to change it tomorrow because we are learning more and more about [AI]. What becomes incumbent on RIT is to be able to stay very current and be very agile in making the necessary changes to keep the students that we are trying to educate well-educated.”
About the Contributors
Hey ya’ll! My name’s Lex Paull and I’m a first year student working on my Journalism and Master of Business Administration degrees. While my passion for writing is primarily focused on activism and politics, I also cover Student Government meetings. Outside of working as a Freelance Writer for Reporter, I’m also an Associate Producer for RIT Sports Network, an initiate in the Delta Alpha chapter of Phi Sigma Pi, and will be serving as COLA’s Communication Representative starting in the fall of 2026. Feel free to contact me for any questions and comments, and thanks for reading!
Hello! My name is Lydia, and I’m an editor, writer and photographer here at the Reporter. I’m responsible for running articles through section edits for content and clarity to ensure that our stories flow smoothly and make sense to our readers. I also write pieces for the monthly issue of the magazine.