Carnegie Mellon offers new artificial intelligence major

Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh will offer the nation's first undergraduate degree program in artificial intelligence.

Officials with the school announced Thursday the new major will be available to students enrolled in the School of Computer Science starting in the fall.

Many American universities offer an artificial intelligence track within degree programs like Computer Science and Computer Engineering.

But Carnegie Mellon is the first school to offer a distinct undergraduate major in artificial intelligence.

The university was a pioneer in artificial intelligence research, writing some of the first AI programs in the 1950s, and has remained among the top schools to study the field.