What happened
Flat Hat News reports that William & Mary’s School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics will offer a new applied artificial intelligence major this fall. The program is designed primarily as a second major for students in fields outside computer science, data science and related disciplines. Its stated focus is using AI tools effectively while considering their ethical, societal and human consequences.
Flat Hat News reported on Aug. 25 that the College of William & Mary’s School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics plans to offer an applied artificial intelligence major beginning this fall. The report said the major is intended to help students use AI technology in workplaces and in their personal lives. A College press release, quoted by Flat Hat News, described the program as part of a broader expansion of AI offerings and said it would combine technical knowledge with attention to ethical, societal and human issues. Those institutional claims were reported by Flat Hat News and were not independently confirmed in the source.
According to Flat Hat News, Adina Allen Term Distinguished Associate Professor of Data Science and Data Science Chair Dan Runfola said the major was designed as a second major for students who are not already pursuing AI-related fields. Runfola characterized the program as focused on using AI tools rather than building the underlying systems. He compared the distinction with learning to ride a bicycle versus learning to build one, placing applied AI on the usage side and computer science or data science on the development side.
Flat Hat News reported that the major will be organized around three core courses: Reasoning with Generative AI, Designing AI Agents, and Agentic Coordination. Runfola said students would need little preexisting knowledge and that required programming skills would be taught within the program. The report said the curriculum would include only enough mathematics for students to assess the quality of AI outputs, rather than offering deep mathematical or programming training.
The report also said Runfola hopes to add courses that connect AI use to particular academic disciplines. Flat Hat News cited examples of AI-integrated courses in music and government and reported that those courses would be taught by professors in the relevant departments rather than by data-science faculty. The article further mentioned existing opportunities such as a student AI Club, launched in spring 2025, a hackathon and a joint data-science and computer-science colloquium covering applications including satellite and remote sensing, earthquakes, and water security.
Read the primary source: flathatnews.com ↗
Why it matters
The program reflects a shift in how universities are teaching AI: alongside technical degrees, institutions are creating pathways for students who need to use AI in other professions. Flat Hat News reports that the major will require limited prior programming or mathematical knowledge and will teach the necessary skills within the program.
The reported program addresses a practical gap between technical AI education and the needs of people who will use AI in fields such as government, music, environmental science or other professions. Flat Hat News reported that the College wants students to understand both general principles for using AI tools and how those tools apply within their chosen disciplines. That approach treats AI competence as a cross-disciplinary skill rather than an exclusively engineering specialty.
The program’s structure could make AI education available to students who might not otherwise enroll in a computer-science or data-science program. Flat Hat News reported that the major is intended for students outside AI-related fields and that it is designed to require little prior programming or mathematics. If implemented as described, the model could lower the entry barrier for students who need to evaluate or use AI systems without becoming AI developers.
The emphasis on reasoning about generative AI, designing agents and coordinating agents also suggests that the College is preparing students for systems that produce outputs and carry out multistep tasks, not only for basic chatbot use. The source does not establish how advanced or technically rigorous those courses will be, but their names indicate an effort to teach judgment and workflow design alongside tool use. That distinction matters because practical AI adoption can create risks when users cannot assess output quality or understand what an automated system is doing.
Flat Hat News reported Runfola’s claim that almost 58% of employers are assigning workers tasks involving AI and AI skills. The article did not provide the underlying survey, methodology or independent corroboration, so that figure should not be treated as established evidence here. Even without relying on the number, the launch is a concrete example of a university responding to perceived workplace demand by embedding AI instruction across disciplines.
The source also places the major within a wider institutional effort that includes AI literacy courses, minors, department-specific classes, a student club, a hackathon and research-oriented events. Flat Hat News reported that the College distinguishes literacy, fluency and mastery, with the applied AI degree positioned at the fluency level and technical programs associated with mastery. The report does not explain how those levels are formally assessed, which limits what can be concluded about the program’s expected capabilities.
What to watch next
The major’s practical impact will depend on enrollment, course availability, faculty capacity and whether discipline-specific offerings are developed as planned. Flat Hat News does not independently verify the College’s claims about employer demand, and the report does not provide tuition, enrollment targets, accreditation details or graduate-outcome data.
The first practical test will be whether the major begins on schedule this fall and attracts students from the nontechnical disciplines it is meant to serve. Flat Hat News reported the planned start but did not provide an enrollment target, projected cohort size, application numbers or evidence that students have already committed to the program. Those details would help distinguish a fully staffed degree pathway from an announced curriculum still being assembled.
The College’s capacity to offer the reported core and discipline-specific courses will also matter. Flat Hat News said Runfola hopes to develop classes tailored to students’ fields and identified music and government examples, but the source does not give course numbers, instructors, syllabi, meeting schedules or whether those classes are already approved. Follow-up reporting should establish which courses will actually be available in the first academic year.
Another issue is how the program will teach students to evaluate AI outputs responsibly. Flat Hat News reported that the mathematics component would be limited to what students need to assess output quality, but it did not describe the evaluation methods, assignments, safeguards or standards students will use. It is therefore unclear whether the program will emphasize verification, privacy, bias, intellectual-property questions, security and accountability in a systematic way.
The report provides no information about tuition or additional costs, accreditation, staffing, expected time to completion, access for students outside the School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics or the relationship between the major and existing minors. It also does not say whether students will use specific commercial AI systems, open models or institutionally managed tools. These omissions are meaningful for students deciding whether the program offers broad, durable skills or training tied to a changing set of products.
Finally, the College’s longer-term results remain unknown. Flat Hat News reported that the program is intended to help students prepare for work and engage with AI research, but it supplied no graduate employment data, employer feedback, independent curriculum review or evidence of improved learning outcomes. Future coverage should examine how graduates use the training, whether departments expand their own AI offerings, and how the program responds as AI tools and workplace expectations change.
