New UCSB Bachelor of Science in artificial intelligence creates professor job insecurity

Ahead of the 2026-27 academic year, professors at UC Santa Barbara are finding themselves increasingly concerned about job security. The Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering recently announced a new Bachelor of Science in artificial intelligence, where students will be able to spend their undergraduate years learning how to build, train and work alongside artificial intelligence systems.

In what was meant to create a responsible relationship between humans and artificial intelligence (AI), training the next stewards of the electronic generation, professors already find themselves being edged out and worrying about their own future. 

Professors tasked with teaching AI programming and processing have realized that AI is better suited to explaining its own functions, and is more relatable to this tech-savvy cohort of students. 

“I’ve spent this whole summer refining my lectures in preparation for this new academic year, but AI created a superior curriculum in four minutes,” an anonymous professor in the computer science department worriedly admitted.

Students who volunteered to participate in test lectures have begun giving feedback, and most of it favors the AI programs used to assist the professors and TAs. 

Some faculty worry that the university’s investment in AI and further incorporating AI into learning may eventually raise uncomfortable questions: If students already prefer learning from AI, why keep paying the humans? 

“My AI teacher actually knows my name. I feel more connected to her in two weeks than I have ever felt with a human professor in the past two years,” second-year English major Silla Thurman said. 

“I’m a really empathetic person and during lecture, the AI professor uses ‘I’ statements which gets me invested in the curriculum. The AI professor reminisced about their birth via Python code during the unit on programming, and it helped me see the beauty of machine learning,” third-year DEI major Nima Karhoon said. 

“My AI teacher holds office hours whenever it’s most convenient for me. It never cancels because of a conference or pulls the ‘I have a family’ excuse. I feel supported 24/7,” an anonymous second-year student said. 

Professors at UCSB who played a role in developing the new major, and other professors across various departments, haven’t responded to the Daily Nexus’ request for comments, reportedly because they are busy updating their resumes. 

In the face of AI professors that are kinder, more approachable and more knowledgeable in the field of learning, a troubling door has been opened which leaves professors and students across the nation wondering what the future of education looks like in this increasingly digital age. 

Serrano Ham wouldn’t have made it through Intro to Acting without their encouraging AI TA.