Bachelors Of AI

PRESENTED BY BASE44

Happy Wednesday, Future Party. If you finally decided to watch (the brilliant) Mad Men on HBO Max yesterday, you may have noticed something a little out of place — crew members from the real production lingering at the edges of the frame. Apparently, the intended 4K restoration of the Emmy-winning series was accidentally replaced with an unedited version of the show. For us Mad Men stans (we’re proudly included), it made for a weird little treat — a sneaky behind-the-scenes peek.

As AI seemingly takes over every facet of the business world, majoring in the technology is becoming the hottest undergraduate track.

Why It Passes: For the past two to three decades, earning a computer science degree has been the best way to enter the tech industry, promising graduates plenty of good, high-paying jobs. That has come crashing down with the advent of AI, which is now taking over coding capabilities and leaving computer science grads with fewer opportunities. So, getting a degree in AI is now the natural alternative.

Behind The Program: Incoming college students are now saying, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” And dozens of universities are opening new programs to meet growing demand, per The NYT.

Final Test: AI’s gain is computer science’s loss. While there were roughly 173,000 computer science undergrads last year, 62% of programs reported enrollment declines this year. Students are simply too worried about endless headlines of layoffs at once-reliable employers like Meta and Amazon, which are now turning to AI systems to write code. That’s backed up by the Computer Research Association’s survey of 133 programs, which found that 66% either strongly or somewhat agreed that recent graduates are having a hard time finding jobs.

The Future: The next generation could see two divergent career paths — one toward cutting-edge AI and the other reaching for tangible blue-collar trades.

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A new study has found that fame has the same mortality rate in musicians as occasionally smoking cigarettes, shortening lives by an average of 4.6 years.

Why It Hurts: While fame seems cool (and yes, there are of course many cool things about it), the pressure it puts on artists is often underappreciated — especially for young singer-songwriter stars who may not be emotionally or mentally equipped for such a meteoric rise.

Between The Lines: Researchers from Witten/Herdecke University in Germany published their fame-danger findings in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

Last Track: The researchers concluded that fame is a “turning point” in artists’ health outcomes, exacerbated by demanding tour schedules, public scrutiny, and the general pressure to perform at a high level.

And the risk is not always equal. Solo artists have it harder than singers in bands, and a separate study found that artists who became famous before the age of 25 have a two-to three-times higher mortality risk than the general population. The infamous 27 Club is not for nothing, apparently.

The Future: If the study has an effect on artists, it’s possible that we could see more stars take dedicated, extended breaks from the public eye to recoup — something health-conscious Gen Z could get behind.

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59% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Would you say you’re into Quentin Tarantino’s films?

“Highly original perspective with meticulous approach to detail.”

“I’m not really a fan of the things he says, but his movies are great. He’s one of the few directors whose work is instantly recognizable and consistently entertaining.”

“He brought a new vibrancy to the movies. His dialogue is so snappy and original that now there are many imitators. However, his newer stuff is too gratuitously violent for my taste.”

“I think he’s one of the most overrated filmmakers in Hollywood.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

📺 Stranger Things 5 scored Netflix’s biggest English-language premiere-week debut with 59.6 million global views.

🎮 Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is set to own 93.4% of top video-game developer Electronic Arts.

📱 YouTube released its annual trending list, with Squid Game, MrBeast, Bruno Mars, and The Joe Rogan Experience all getting top spots.

🚨 OpenAI flashed an internal “Code Red” over how good Google’s Gemini 3 is, so expect the AI startup to roll out ChatGPT updates even quicker.

🤖 Amazon announced that it has created an AI agent that can work for days on end without needing human assistance.

🦾 Congress isn’t too keen on the White House’s push to downplay states’ rights to regulate AI.

👀 The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development reported that the potential pop of an AI bubble would be very, very bad for the US economy.

🛍️ TikTok Shop crossed $500 million in US sales over the holiday weekend.

🧥 Poland, the world’s second-largest fur producer, is banning fur farming.