Just a few years ago, applying to a prestigious university computer science program might have been a no-brainer for a student like Mahimn Patel.
uncertain
applying → apply → Patel
Mr. Patel, 18, built software for fun in high school, including an app that helped his classmates track their volunteer hours, and an artificial intelligence agent for realtors in Texas.
asserted
classmates → build → Texas
During a recent video interview, he had multiple AI agents running in the background debugging his latest hobby horse, an AI-enabled app for stock trading.
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agents → have → trading
Getting into computer science, a notoriously competitive program at top Canadian schools, wouldn’t have been a problem for Mr. Patel.
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science → get → Patel
He graduated from Central Peel Secondary School in Brampton, Ont., in June with a 97 average.
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He → graduate → average
But Mr. Patel decided not to apply for a computer science program.
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Patel → decide → program
He chose to pursue a degree in applied mathematics at the University of Toronto, where he started classes last week.
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he → choose → classes
“It’s mathematics and physics that develop your brain the most after four years of education.
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that → ’ → education
With AI, that development is what matters more,” he said.
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he → matter → AI
“Because if you can think more creatively and more rigorously on your own, you’re able to actually use the AI better.
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you → think → AI
Other Canadian high-school students – and their parents – are looking at how AI is revolutionizing higher education and the workplace and making a similar calculation, though the jury’s still out on how the job market will adapt to that change.
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market → look → change
Applications to undergraduate computer and information systems programs have plunged at universities in Ontario, the only province that makes aggregate application data public.
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data → plunge → Ontario
In the most recent admissions cycle, the number of applications to computer and information systems fell to 45,260, down 44 per cent from a high of just more than 80,000 applications in 2023, according to the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre.
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number → fall → Centre
(Information systems degrees generally combine IT and business management.)
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degrees → combine → IT
It happened as the overall number of applications grew in the face of Ottawa’s crackdown on international student visas, which hit colleges harder than universities.
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which → happen → universities
And while there isn’t necessarily a straight line between the number of applications a program receives and the number of students it admits, about 2,500 fewer students have accepted offers to start undergraduate computer science degrees in Ontario this fall compared to two years ago.
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students → be → Ontario
“This is true all over the world,” said Mark Daley, the chief AI officer at Western University in London.
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Daley → say → London
Government funding and university priorities factor into the number of students admitted to computer science, and emerging specializations in AI are becoming more popular.
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specializations → admit → AI
But computer science leaders at universities in other provinces are seeing the same overall drop in applications.
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leaders → see → applications
This suggests Ontario’s figures aren’t an outlier.
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figures → suggest → ?
Teenagers raised in the just-learn-to-code era worry that AI can already do much of a junior software engineer’s job, and they’re not sure that making “artisanal bespoke human code, like it’s the sourdough bread from the local bakery, is going to be a great job market,” Prof. Daley said.
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Daley → raise → bakery
Waning interest in computer science degrees is to be expected.
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interest → expect → degrees
Big Tech stalwarts such as Meta, Google, Shopify, Oracle, Amazon and others have laid off tens of thousands of workers in recent years.
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stalwarts → lay → years
The internet is awash in stories of young tech workers struggling in a brutal job market.
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internet → struggle → market
And it’s not the first time a broad technological shift has caused students to feel skittish.
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students → ’ → ?
In another sense, it’s a surprise.
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it → ’ → sense
Artificial intelligence threatens jobs of all kinds.
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intelligence → threaten → kinds
But it was born of computer science, and leaders in the field say students will still be the vanguard; programs are tailoring their offerings as such.
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programs → bear → offerings
Surely young people who understand how generative AI works and know how to build with it have the best shot at a safe future?
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AI → understand → future
Either way, trends in computer science education underscore a dilemma facing many teenagers and twentysomethings, regardless of what they want to be when they grow up.
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they → underscore → teenagers
AI is improving so fast that no students know what awaits them on the other side of a degree.
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what → improve → degree
“We don’t know what the labour market is going to look like five or 10 years from now,” said Prof. Daley, who was also vice-chair of the Council of Ontario Universities’ AI Task Force.
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who → know → Force
“I don’t think there’s going to be a complete apocalypse of jobs and there’ll be nothing for humans to do.
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humans → think → jobs
But I think the nature of what we do is going to change.”
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we → think → what
Luigi Benedicenti, a professor and dean in the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of New Brunswick, used to be greeted by big groups of students and their eager parents when he spoke at high-school recruitment fairs or university orientation events a few years ago.
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he → use → fairs
Computer science – where students typically studied coding, computer architecture, advanced algorithms and computational theory, among other subjects – was a hot program.
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students → study → subjects
His audience viewed it as a ticket to the good life.
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audience → view → life
That began to change recently, Prof. Benedicenti said.
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Benedicenti → begin → ?
Although UNB, like many Canadian universities, does not disclose application figures for individual programs, the dean said applications plunged two years ago.
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applications → disclose → programs
That’s when computer science suffered the one-two punch of federal restrictions on international student visas and a growing public recognition of AI’s coding prowess, he explained.
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he → ’ → prowess
…and 67 more, not listed.
The Aporia
