How is AI Affecting College Major and Course Choices? Evidence from Finland

Ciprian Domnisoru and Tuomas P. Heikkinen

No 13105, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Have concerns about the potential job displacement effects of artificial intelligence affected the education choices of students? We analyze administrative data on the university applications and course choices of Finnish students. We find, after the launch of ChatGPT 3.5 in November 2022, a persistent drop in applications to fields of study classified as more exposed to AI under several different measures. The drop is particularly large in computer science and other ICT fields. Examining the elective course choices of non-ICT students, we find declining enrollment in programming and algorithms courses, particularly among students who had not taken mathematics as part of their high school exit exam. At the same time, non-ICT students enrolled more in AI/ML courses, and this increase was relatively larger among men.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; college major choice; higher education; unemployment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 J24 J64 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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