A new poll has found that nearly half of U.S. college students surveyed say artificial intelligence is already forcing them to rethink one of the biggest decisions of their academic lives: their major.
A new Gallup and Lumina Foundation survey released Thursday found that 47% of currently enrolled college students have thought at least "a fair amount" about changing their major or field of study because of AI's potential impact on the job market.
That figure includes 14% who said they have thought about it "a great deal" and 33% who said they have thought about it "a fair amount." The same study found that 16% of respondents said they have already changed their major because of AI-related concerns.
Gallup also found that technology and vocational students were among the most likely to reconsider their path, while healthcare and natural sciences students were among the least likely to say AI had pushed them toward a possible change.
The divide is also visible by degree type and gender. According to Gallup, 56% of associate degree students said AI had led them to seriously consider changing their field of study, compared with 42% of bachelor's degree students. Men were also more likely than women to report that AI had already influenced a change in major, 21% to 12%.
The changes are visible across the entire labor market. Students are watching it become saturated with warnings about automation, shrinking entry-level openings, and employers demanding AI fluency even for junior roles. Research from Stanford's Digital Economy Lab found that since generative AI became widespread, workers ages 22 to 25 in the most AI-exposed occupations have experienced a 16% relative decline in employment, while employment for older workers in the same occupations remained stable or continued to grow.
That backdrop helps explain why students are not simply using AI as a shortcut for homework. They are trying to figure out whether the careers they imagined at 18 will still exist at 22. Gallup's broader findings show AI has already become a routine part of college life, with 57% of U.S. college students saying they use artificial intelligence in their coursework at least weekly, including about one in five who use it daily. The most frequent users are students in business, technology, and engineering.
At the same time, colleges themselves are sending mixed messages. More than half of the students surveyed said their schools either discourage AI use in coursework, 42%, or prohibit it entirely, 11%. Only 7% said students at their college are encouraged to use AI as much as possible, while 35% said AI use is allowed with limits. Gallup said about one in seven students also now cite preparing for AI and other technological advances as an important reason they enrolled in college in the first place.
