• Stanford students say interest in generative AI has already surpassed the crypto hype.

• Enrollment in existing classes on artificial intelligence has skyrocketed, according to faculty.

• A look at the course catalog shows AI-related classes appear to have doubled in the past five years.

It's hard to separate Stanford University from the orbit of the tech industry. And as a generative AI craze sweeps through Silicon Valley, it's set big changes in motion at Stanford, too

Just look at Stanford's course listings. In just five years, the number of classes related to artificial intelligence appears to have doubled.

Every year, Stanford graduates funnel into coveted gigs at Big Tech companies, venture capital firms — or they embrace the startup grind as founders. Almost 40,000 companies have been launched by alumni and faculty since the 1930s, including giants of the tech economy, like Google, LinkedIn, and Yahoo, the university brags.

Now, since OpenAI released ChatGPT in November, interest in AI on campus has surged, more than a dozen Stanford students and faculty told Insider.

"The speed the industry is moving is very surprising to me — as a person who is very aware of the industry," said Rishi Bommasani, a computer science doctoral student at the Stanford Center for Research on Foundation Models. And Stanford's rush into AI? "The speed of Stanford is very surprising to me — as a person fairly familiar with Stanford."

AI is now brunch conversation

Until recently, conversations around AI have largely been relegated to those with a technical fluency in machine learning, programming, or advanced mathematics, students told Insider.

The current curiosity, though, has been fueled by the accessibility of generative AI. Anyone can experiment with ChatGPT, for example, and use their experience as a starting point to consider broader questions around artificial intelligence.

Now, students majoring in everything from English to economics to symbolic systems (also known as the "VC major") told Insider that they're grappling with the political, social, and even philosophical implications of the AI revolution.