Dear Undergraduate Students,
I am pleased to share with you USC’s new AI Essentials course offerings that launch in Spring 2027 and are now available for enrollment for the first time ever.
As AI becomes a routine part of our working, learning, and teaching at the university, we believe it is important that all undergraduate students, regardless of major, have access to AI-centered coursework that prepares them to think critically about AI’s role in the world and in the future, and to improve AI literacy overall.
These new AI Essentials courses are 2-unit, Credit/No-Credit courses that can be easily added to your existing schedule in addition to your degree-applicable units for university and major requirements.
BUAD 298 AI Essentials: Professional Success and Leadership
Offered by the Marshall School of Business, students prepare for professional success in the Age of AI by becoming more effective and efficient professionals while also learning to navigate the moral, ethical, and interpersonal challenges that arise in AI-powered workplaces.
MDA 298 AI Essentials: Risks, Rewards, and the Human Future
Offered by the Dornsife College for Letters, Arts and Sciences, students engage with the risks and rewards of an AI-inflected future by exposing them to a lineup of experts on AI research and practice across the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and math.
TAC 298 AI Essentials: Techniques and Technologies
Offered by the Viterbi School of Engineering and Stevens School of Computing and AI, students will learn what AI is, how it works, what it can and cannot do, and the ways in which it continues to evolve in this non-technical course.
I encourage you to connect with your academic advisor to learn more about how to include this opportunity in your future plans and read more about our AI-related academic programs on the AI@USC website.
Sincerely,
Andrew McConnell Stott
Vice Provost for Academic Programs
Dean of the USC Graduate School
Professor of English