No, AI Isn’t Killing Computer Science. It’s Making It Essential

Another year, another viral tweet argues against “learning to code.” The latest one comes with cherry-picked data implying that art history majors outperform computer scientists in labor markets. Yet the underlying data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York prove the opposite. Art history grads have low unemployment—just 3%—because they are actually underemployed: 47% work in low-wage jobs that require no college degree and earn almost half the median wage of computer scientists. Computer science grads, meanwhile, have the highest median wage and the fifth-lowest underemployment across all majors.

Skeptics are right to point out that AI will automate the busywork of coding. Software jobs will change just as they have every decade, as programming has become easier and easier since the days of punch cards and assembly language. But we shouldn’t be confused by the short-term shifts of some employers in some industries. Simplified coding hasn’t decreased the value of computer science. Rather, it has increased, and the demand for computer science will grow over time.

But here’s the thing: Debating the employability of computer scientists ignores the most important reason to teach computer science.