Artificial intelligence has become an increasingly common subject in Penn courses, with classes across disciplines examining the technology and its implications.
The Daily Pennsylvanian analyzed over 1,000 courses that contain the keywords “AI,” “artificial intelligence,” or “machine learning” between fall 2022 and spring 2027 — the last five academic years since the boom in generative AI. The review identified trends in course offerings by school, department, and course level, as well as enrollment and registration restrictions.
Courses containing the keyword “AI” saw a particularly sharp increase, rising from five in fall 2022 to 61 in spring 2027 — a 1,120% increase. The Annenberg School for Communication researcher and lecturer Matthew O’Donnell attributed this increase in part to the broader discourse surrounding AI.
“Most disciplines are wanting to reflect on what is currently relevant in culture,” O’Donnell said in an interview. “Since November 2022, the current generation of generative AI has become increasingly central in debate and in people’s everyday life.”
English professor James English suggested the jump may also reflect changes to existing course descriptions, rather than the introduction of entirely new course content.
“If you’re teaching a course that you’ve been teaching for the last 10 years on machine learning and video generation or something like that, now it’s probably going to have AI in the description,” English said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that what I’m teaching is different, but it just becomes obligatory to use that term AI because everyone’s looking for it.”
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The courses span a wide range of academic disciplines. In spring 2027, classes containing AI-related keywords were listed across 56 subject areas. The College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science accounted for 44 and 42 courses, respectively, followed by the Wharton School and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.
While engineering courses often emphasize the technical applications of AI, other disciplines explore its social, cultural, and ethical implications. WRIT 0390, a writing seminar titled “What AI Means for Writers,” offers one example of how the technology has pervaded humanities coursework.
Engineering first year Stanley Yang, who registered for WRIT 0390 in fall 2026, said the course broadened his understanding of AI beyond how it can be used.
“Researching about the impact of AI on writing allowed me to expand my view a lot more to the humanities and see the impact it had on humanities,” he said.
Yang added he previously viewed AI as “limited to simply STEM,” but now appreciates its growing presence in other disciplines.
At the departmental level, Computer and Information Science led spring 2027 offerings with 17 AI-related courses, followed by Statistics and Data Sciences with 13. Communication and Engineering and Applied Science each offered six courses, tying for the fifth-highest number among subject areas.
O’Donnell described the presence of AI in communication courses as “not surprising,” given its reliance on language as both an input and output.
“It’s a communication technology, so communication is well placed as a discipline to talk about it,” O’Donnell said.
Computer and Information Science courses have also consistently ranked among the most highly enrolled AI-related offerings.
From spring 2024 to spring 2026, CIS 5450: “Big Data Analytics” ranked among the two most highly enrolled AI-related courses each semester, with enrollment ranging from 390 to 489 students. CIS 4190: “Applied Machine Learning” also consistently ranked among the most highly enrolled courses.
Other popular offerings included ESE 5410: “Machine Learning for Data Science,” which ranked among the seven most highly enrolled AI-related courses, and EAS 2030: “Engineering Ethics,” which ranked among the top 10 between spring 2024 to fall 2026.
Outside engineering and computer science, ARCH 6310: “Details, Data, and Delivery” was the 10th most highly enrolled AI-related course in fall 2026, with 85 students.
Despite the growth in AI-related offerings, enrollment rates have remained relatively stable. The DP calculated the proportion of available seats filled in each course and averaged these rates by semester, finding little overall change between fall 2024 and fall 2026. Enrollment percentages hovered between 60% and 80%, suggesting interest in AI-focused courses has remained roughly consistent.
Access to AI-related courses also varies by course and department. In spring 2027, only 38% of identified courses will have no registration restrictions.
The DP classified restrictions into four categories: major-specific, academic level-specific, school-specific, and permission requirements. Academic level-specific restrictions were the most common, while permission requirements were the least frequently imposed.
As AI becomes more prominent across academic disciplines, Penn has generally left decisions about its classroom use to individual professors, allowing instructors to incorporate the technology into their teaching or maintain AI-free environments.
O’Donnell expressed support for this decentralized approach, highlighting that a uniform policy could not serve the needs of every course.
“It’s not going to be appropriate for every situation, and that’s the nature of learning. That’s the nature of life, more broadly,” he said.
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