LSU to begin offering bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence this fall

Baton Rouge — Starting in the fall of 2026, LSU will begin offering a bachelor’s degree in Artificial Intelligence.

LSU said the degree, offered through the University’s College of Engineering, will make it the first university in the state to offer it.

In recent years, LSU has been expanding education on artificial intelligence and workforce development.

“A lot of times when we hear about AI, we don’t think about it as something that you could study for four years, but our computer science division put together a really rigorous program that’s going to train the next generation of engineers in AI,” Vicki Colvin, the Dean of the College of Engineering, said.

The college said that a bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence covers a range of topics like mathematics, computer science and even the ethics of AI. LSU’s computer science department created 20 new courses to build the new degree program.

“You have courses that are fundamentally related to AI, the way we know it. Being able to use AI to see things, and then you have a lot of electives. We have a course on AI security. Then there are courses that teach the students how to build systems,” Computer Science and Engineering Division Chair Ibrahim Baggili said. “If you think of AI as a wave, and people are riding that wave, we are building the surfboard.”

Baggili said the division’s Assistant Professor Dr. James Ghawaly was the architect of the program.

The university doesn’t plan on limiting opportunities to undergrad students either.

“We have a next fast track, which I hope in 2027 we’ll announce is going to be a master’s in applied artificial intelligence,” Colvin said.

“That’s a very unique program that we’re building at LSU that is for people that are out in the industry and want to apply AI to their own sort of business and industry,” Baggili added.

WBRZ spoke with several LSU students who are currently taking AI-centered courses before…

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