University of Chicago launches nine-month master's degree in applied AI

The University of Chicago announced a Master of Science in Applied Artificial Intelligence, which it described as its first degree program dedicated exclusively to AI. The university's Data Science Institute published the announcement on August 28, 2026, and the university news office carried it on September 17. The inaugural cohort is due to start in autumn 2027.

The full-time, nine-month program is offered through the Physical Sciences Division and the Data Science Institute and is designed for students who already have a strong technical foundation. Students take four core courses covering AI foundations and principles, advanced architectures and applications, AI security, safety and governance, and value creation and leadership with AI. They then choose five electives across three focus areas, named AI in practice, frontier AI and performance AI, with at least one from each. Electives listed include multi-modal agents, production AI, quantum computation, biomedicine, asset management and an AI practicum. Students will study in person at the university's downtown campus.

The university said the application portal would open in September 2026 and that space in the first cohort would be limited. It set the degree alongside other AI investments, including the Mansueto Faculty of Mind and Machine Challenge, announced in 2026, a nearly $200 million initiative to recruit, retain and support 20 scholars who use AI and computational approaches across disciplines.