As AI systems expand their already impressive capacities, there is an increasingly common belief that the field of computer science (CS) will soon be a thing of the past. This is being communicated to today’s prospective students in the form of well-meaning advice, but much of it amounts to little more than hearsay from individuals who, despite their intelligence, speak outside of their expertise.
High-profile figures like Nobel Prize-winning economist Christopher Pissarides have made this argument, and as a result, it has taken root on a much more mundane level – I have even personally heard high school careers advisers dismiss the idea of studying CS outright, despite having no knowledge of the field itself.
