[natrius]

It's definitely a positive trend, but I don't think there's been much of a change in mindset. Have these schools ever taken pleasure in limiting access to their teaching? No one's going to stop you from walking into the AI class tomorrow and seeing lectures in person, and I presume that's always been the case for large classes.

The real innovation in the AI, ML and DB classes is making automated grading of creative work available to everyone for free. It's a very altruistic thing to do, but other than the effort needed to build and maintain the systems, I don't see the downsides for the school. Fancy schools are for letting other people know you're smart enough to get into a fancy school, meeting other smart people, and having access to people who are doing cutting-edge research. The content isn't the distinguishing factor.