About

We Attract Doers Who Solve Practical Problems

CMU has spent decades building a culture where people care about using technology to solve real problems. More than half a century ago, Allen Newell and Herb Simon had a vision for a general problem-solver for the human race. Since then, their vision has become a filter: people attracted to building solutions to real-world problems come here. The result? One of the world's largest collections of people determined to build things that help humans. That's why we're the right place to lead the AI charge in the 21st century. If you missed our first all-hands meeting in early November, you can watch it on our YouTube channel.

AI Stack

We define artificial intelligence pretty simply: AI must understand the human needs and it must make smart design decisions based on that understanding. Despite the simple definition, though, AI isn't just one thing. It's a giant thing, built from technology blocks we call the AI Stack. At Carnegie Mellon, we view it as a toolbox — each block houses a set of technologies that scientists and researchers can reach for as they work on new initiatives. Expertise in all areas? Not required. Instead, we believe you can focus on one area and draw on other parts of the stack for help. Each block depends on the other for support. And AI endeavors that ignore parts of the stack won't succeed. 

Click on each item in the stack for a quick overview and links to CMU faculty members working in that area. 

AI Is in Our Blood

Self-driving cars. Speech recognition. Advanced sensor design and application. Internet of things. Facial recognition software. Understanding human goals, thinking and interaction. We do all of that. But we also recognize that AI rests on top of a huge stack that relies on machine learning, programming, data analysis, design, physics and math. Our excellence in all those areas is part of what sets CMU apart from AI programs around the world.

Our Degrees Prepare You To Create the AI of the Future

We offer a host of degrees that will prepare you for creating the AI technology of the future. From our undergraduate degrees in CS and computational biology — which allow you to do some research — to our many master's and doctoral degrees. All of our programs give you the hands-on, problem-solving experience that sets a CMU degree apart from all others.