[elehack]

Disclaimer: I am a CS professor.

I don't think AI advancements will cause a problem for the value of the degree (or rather, if they do, then it wasn't a very good MS degree). The value of formal university CS education done well, at both BS and MS levels, is learning skills in a context that integrates those skills into a knowledge framework that transcends any particular technology and hopefully outlasts several trend changes. The specific ML algorithms you would learn in an ML-focused MS will likely be out-off-date soon; the training on problem formulation, data preparation, fundamental limits of learning, and the theory of how ML works will not only outlast many technology shifts, but give you a good framework for navigating those shifts and integrating new advances into your knowledge.

There are likely many programs that would not provide this kind of foundation. But in understanding in general the value of an MS, this is how I would advise a student to think about it. (and on MS vs BS, BS usually provides some opportunity for specialization but is very much a generalist degree; an MS provides more opportunity for specialization and credentialing on that specialization.)

[verelo]

asks a drug dealer How do you feel legalization will impact your business? /sarcasm

Disclaimer: I dropped out, but i do wish i finished just because it's sad to now be 36 and I hate leaving things undone.

In all seriousness, i think higher ed has issues to resolve regardless of whatever AI does to it. The ongoing imbalance between the value one can extract from a degree and what you get out of it has been mostly impacting students other than CS or other engineering degrees, but with a slower economy we may end up sucked into the issue other fields have long suffered from. Speak to anyone in the environmental field, hard to believe this is /the issue/ of our time yet we value is so poorly.

[thereisnospork]

>The value of formal university CS education done well, at both BS and MS levels, is learning skills in a context that integrates those skills into a knowledge framework that transcends any particular technology and hopefully outlasts several trend changes.

While I don't disagree with your main point re the value of a CS degree, this is the same argument verbatim given by every English, History, and Underwater basket weaving professor.

[elcritch]

They’ve also got a point. The skills may not be technologically valuable, but they can teach critical thinking and give broader context for life. Philosophy majors tend to do better than average salary wise as well.

That said I also believe many fields have gone bunkers. The whole everybody needs a degree also creates incentives for degree factories.

[cholantesh]

Outside of ML/AI what would you say are areas of CS in which a lot of active research is being conducted?

[nextos]

Programming language theory and formal verification have been relatively hot during the last 10-15 years and show no signs of slowdown. Still, a relatively niche area.

Also the intersection of CS, probability and statistics is a very interesting area to work on. Less trendy than deep ML, but really practical. See e.g. Stan, Pyro, Andrew Gelman's books, etc.

[cholantesh]

Thanks for the insight. My Software Quality prof gifted me a copy of one of Gelman's texts but I haven't had time to take it in; I should change that...

It's weird to me that formal verification isn't more widely used; I would think it would be common at least in safety critical systems development.