University of Southern California
CA · AI Readiness #9 of 227
AIREDEX™ Score: 9.3 /10
USC, with over $1 billion in AI investment, has two undergraduate AI degrees, including the inaugural BS in AI in the newly named Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence, and five cross-disciplinary institutes spanning engineering, social science, and the arts.
USC has demonstrated its commitment to AI with over $1B allocated through its Frontiers of Computing initiative, backed by a $260M Lord Foundation gift and a $3.1M ChatGPT Edu deployment reaching every student and faculty member. There are at least five named cross-disciplinary AI institutes spanning engineering, social science, and importantly, the arts. Two standalone undergraduate AI degrees are available: a BS in Artificial Intelligence through the Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence at Viterbi, launching Fall 2026, and a joint business-engineering AI degree through Marshall and Viterbi that has been live since 2023.
Pillar grades
- Commitment: A
- Curriculum: A
- Partnerships: A+
- Research: A+
A(I)ttitude™: leading edge
Selected Highlights
- Shri Narayanan (VP for Presidential Initiatives) holds AI expertise and serves on AI Strategy Committee — positive A(I)ttitude signal even though no standalone CAIO title confirmed
- President's AI Strategy Committee chaired by Geoffrey Garrett, 15 members across 7+ schools, formed October 2025, with documented ongoing meetings and public web presence
- Formal Generative AI General Policy published January 9, 2026; ai.usc.edu hub with policy, governance, tools, and community resources
- $1B+ Frontiers of Computing initiative; $260M Lord Foundation gift; $12M IETC; $10M Center for Generative AI and Society; $3.1M ChatGPT Edu subscription — total documented AI-related capital well above $500M
- Five named cross-disciplinary AI institutes confirmed: School of Advanced Computing (Sukhatme), CAIS (Dilkina/Rice), Center for Generative AI and Society (Willis/Swartout), IETC (Liu/Hawthorne), ISI (Knoblock)