AI is adding pressure to the already heavy decision of choosing a college major.
According to a survey of approximately 3,800 students conducted by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation, one in six students (about 16%) said they changed their major because of the impact of AI on the job market.
The report, released Thursday, also found that 47% of college students have thought at least a lot about changing their field of study for the same reasons.
“This is one of the clearest signs we’ve ever seen that students are rethinking what their futures will look like in response to AI,” Dr. Courtney Brown, vice president of impact and planning at the Lumina Foundation, told Business Insider.
Students enrolled in technology and vocational programs were the most likely to consider changing their major, with about 70% of each group saying they had considered it at least a fair amount. In contrast, those studying healthcare and natural sciences are the least likely to say that AI has made them reconsider their major.
technology uncertainty
Of the 16% of students who changed majors, 26% enrolled in social sciences, 17% enrolled in business, and 13% enrolled in technology.
“When it comes to technology, students are moving in both directions. Some students see opportunities in AI and move into tech, while others fear disruption and move away from it,” Brown said.
Niche Report found that in technology fields, students are moving away from majors that are more easily automated by AI, based on interest among high school seniors. The report, released in March, said students’ interest is shifting away from traditional programming and toward AI development, such as software engineering and AI-focused specializations.
Programming will account for 10% of computer science interest in 2026, down from a peak of 14% in 2020. In contrast, interest in AI has grown even more, increasing from 1.7% of computer science students in 2023 to 4.7% in 2026. Interest in software engineering also increased, rising by 1.2 percentage points from 2025 to 2026, accounting for 22% of interest in computer science.
A Gallup study found that students in the humanities, medicine, and natural sciences are among the least likely to change their major because of AI. It was also found that students in the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities were the least likely majors to use AI.
“I don’t think students understand that AI is going to replace them,” Brown said.
The findings come as English majors have rebounded in recent years and some universities are rethinking their liberal arts curricula, including integrating AI and the humanities, as the field’s core skills become more relevant.
adapt quickly
Choosing a college major is a big decision, and one that can seem even more high-stakes as industries rapidly evolve and AI reshapes the job market. However, a degree is not everything.
A HireVue report on global hiring for the Class of 2026 released in March found that while 79% of entry-level jobs still require a bachelor’s degree, nearly 70% of employers say they are using skills-based hiring. In the US, more than a quarter of organizations are discussing relaxing degree requirements to expand their skills-based talent pipeline.
Allison Shrivastava, an economist at Niche and author of the Niche report, told Business Insider that the fact that more students interested in computer software development are considering the AI creation field is a positive indicator of how students are adapting.
“This is an efficient classification,” Shrivastava said. “This is a good response given what will be required of the workforce in the future.”
Are you a prospective college graduate looking for a job? We’d like to hear about your experience with job hunting. Contact the reporter at aaltchek@insider.com.