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IZA Discussion Paper No. 19056
October 2026
How Is AI Affecting College Major and Course Choices? Evidence from Finland
Ciprian Domnisoru, Tuomas Pekka Heikkinen

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.

Communications
Mark Fallak
mark.fallak@liser.lu
+352 585-855-526
World of Labour
Olga Nottmeyer
olga.nottmeyer-ext@liser.lu
+352 585-855-501
Network Coordination
Christina Gathmann
christina.gathmann@liser.lu

The IZA@LISER Network is a global community of scholars dedicated to excellence in labor economics and related fields, now coordinated at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) following its transition from Bonn.

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