Illinois Master's in Artificial Intelligence Programs

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Planning on earning your Master’s in Artificial Intelligence in Illinois? Use our comprehensive directory of IL graduate programs in artificial intelligence & robotics to make sure you’re picking the right degree! To speed your search, each program entry has links to admissions, coursework, and tuition costs. Within this Illinois AI guide, you’ll also discover a rundown of research strengths at schools like UIUC and UChicago, advice about online qualifications, and an analysis of AI job opportunities in Chicago and beyond.

Illinois AI Highlights

Applied AI is the name of the education game in Illinois. In addition to a lot of work in robotics, many of the state’s R1 universities are investigating AI applications in key Illinois sectors—think engineering, healthcare & medicine, agriculture, and business. Our Schools section profiles top academic players and industry-specific AI degrees.
AI career opportunities abound. According to Chicago Tech, Chicagoland is the #1 most diversified economy of the largest 10 U.S. metros based on employment and the home of a number of Fortune 500 companies. Anyone interested in Chicago’s financial sector should also take a look at what’s happening with High-Frequency Trading (HFT) in the city’s trading firms.
In the world of advanced R&D, there’s some exciting stuff going on at the Argonne National Laboratory’s Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) and the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park (IQMP). Our section on the AI Landscape in Illinois has more details.

Artificial Intelligence Schools in Illinois

You’ll find plenty of Midwest academic powerhouses in our directory of Illinois master’s degrees in artificial intelligence. Prestigious schools like the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), UChicago, and Northwestern are well-known for their AI research clout and industry collaborations. Industry is the key word here—many of these universities have their sights firmly fixed on practical applications of AI. Here are a few of our top picks for artificial intelligence schools in Illinois:

UIUC: In addition to being the #1 Illinois university for AI research, UIUC is a hub of trailblazing projects. The Grainger College of Engineering’s section on AI Centers & Initiatives has a useful summary of its efforts. Be sure to investigate the IBM–Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute (IIDAI), dedicated to advancing hybrid cloud, AI, quantum, and accelerated materials discovery. Then visit the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and the NCSA’s Center for Artificial Intelligence Innovation (CAII), a campus nexus for AI research & collaborations aimed at “industrial grand challenges.” Anyone interested in the technical side of AI can consider customizing the master’s in computer science or pursuing the Master of Engineering in Autonomy & Robotics. (The Center for Autonomy and labs within the Illinois Robotics Group will be helpful here.) Those who are eyeing the Master of Science in Biomedical Image Computing should explore the Department of Bioengineering and its clinical partners (e.g. Mayo Clinic). Folks who are thinking of the Master of Engineering in Digital Agriculture can connect with the Center for Digital Agriculture (CDA), which is working on initiatives like the AI AgriBench and AIFARMS Institute.
UChicago: UChicago administers the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), so you can bet employers will know the name. Artificial intelligence at the university is split fairly evenly between technical developments and business applications. If you’re on the technical side, investigate the master’s programs in data science or applied data science. These will give you access to the Data Science Institute (DSI) and its industry partners. The DSI has research initiatives in AI + Science; AICE: AI for Climate (a program of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth and DSI); Novel Intelligence; and a Cross-Campus + Argonne/TTIC collaboration to build climate & weather AI models and LLMs. If you’re thinking about the MBA in Applied AI, Chicago Booth has dedicated Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence that runs multiple AI & ML events, workshops, and conferences. Chicago Booth even offers an executive Chief AI Officers (CAIO) Program for those who are prepping to lead AI initiatives, build scalable infrastructures, and drive AI adoption.
Northwestern: Hunting for a technical qualification? Northwestern and the McCormick School of Engineering offer a wide range of master’s programs across artificial intelligence, AI engineering, data science, and robotics. Better yet, Northwestern supports scores of AI-related research centers, including a Center for Deep Learning (CDL), the Northwestern Security & AI Lab (NSAIL), the Center for Robotics and Biosystems, and the Institute for Augmented Intelligence in Medicine (I.AIM) within the Feinberg School of Medicine. We were pleased to see that the Department of Computer Science has developed AI projects with a number of industry partners (e.g. Adobe Research Partnership). And it’s doing some fascinating things in AI best practices—have a look at the Center for Advancing Safety of Machine Intelligence (CASMI), supported by the Northwestern and the Digital Safety Research Institute (DSRI) at Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
DePaul: A Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence from this private Catholic research university in Chicago can set you up for some unique career paths. As a DePaul graduate student, you’ll have the option to get involved with the Research Labs & Centers within the Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM). There’s plenty of work being done in computational biology & applied bioinformatics, robotics, human-in-the-loop analytics, responsible AI, web intelligence, and more. Or you can focus on the applied side. The DePaul Center for Data Science (CDS) is a node of interdisciplinary AI/ML research at the university, and it has strong relationships with corporate partners (e.g., Motorola Solutions Foundation, Vistex, local health & life-science partners, etc.).

This is just a sample of what’s out there! For instance, we could have also mentioned the UIC Artificial Intelligence Lab and NLP Lab within UIC’s College of Engineering and the AI.Health4All Center within the UIC College of Medicine. Or Illinois Tech’s Computation & Data Research and its robotics work at the Robotics Lab@IIT and Autonomous Systems Group @ Illinois Tech. Or Lewis University’s internship relationship with ANL. Realistically, there’s sure to be at least one school in our Illinois directory that has the right combo of AI research strengths and industry connections to suit your needs.

Online Master’s in Artificial Intelligence Programs in Illinois

Distance learning has come a long way in the Prairie State. Our Illinois directory now has a healthy mix of online master’s degrees in artificial intelligence and data science. Look for the “Offered Online” tag under each degree to assess your options.

Prestige Factor: The best online master’s in AI degrees in Illinois come from universities with a Carnegie R1 designation. You might wish to customize Northwestern’s Online Master of Science in Data Science (MSDS) from the School of Professional Studies (SPS) with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence, relevant electives (e.g. Intelligent Systems and Robotics), and a capstone with a Chicago startup. Or you go hard on AI engineering with UIC’s Online Master of Engineering (MEng) with an AI & Machine Learning focus. This covers both technical AI training (e.g. ML, AI, deep neural networks, and NLP) and business & engineering concerns (e.g. engineering management).
Technical Coursework: Those who are searching for a comp sci-flavored online AI program in Illinois also have the option to compare Northwestern & UIC’s offerings with DePaul’s Online Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence, backed by the Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM) and its AI research labs, and Lewis University’s Online Master of Science in Computer Science – Artificial Intelligence. Lewis’s affordable program also features an internship co-op program with the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL).
Industry Applications: The prize for the most unusual online AI graduate programs in Illinois goes to UIUC. For example, it has developed an Online AI in Medicine Certificate and multiple offerings in digital agriculture, including an interdisciplinary Online Master of Engineering in Digital Agriculture. The MEng is a great pick for anyone wanting to get involved in agtech, since UIUC is busy spearheading initiatives such as the Autonomous Farm, the Farm of the Future, AIFARMS, and the Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems (CROPPS).

The Artificial Intelligence Landscape in Illinois

The best word we can think of for the AI economy in Illinois is “solid.” Unlike risk-happy AI centers such as NYC and Silicon Valley, Chicago is the land of cautious moves and traditional companies. Many Illinois tech professionals end up working in established sectors such as finance, insurance, professional services & consulting, manufacturing, healthcare & medtech, legaltech, and the public sphere. If you’re contemplating an AI career in the area after graduation, here are a few developments we’re monitoring:

AI Job Trends in Illinois: Chicagoland is the #1 most diversified economy of the largest 10 U.S. metros based on employment, which means that the area has some buffer against swings in the job market. So we weren’t surprised to see that UMD-LinkUP AIMaps has identified Illinois as one of the top 10 states for AI job postings. Illinois AI employers in recent years have included healthcare & pharmaceuticals (e.g. AbbVie, Tempus AI, Walgreens Boots Alliance, etc.), financial services (e.g. CME Group, JPMorgan Chase, Morningstar, etc.), tech (e.g. Motorola Solutions, Relativity, etc.), agtech & robotics (e.g. John Deere), and R&D (e.g. ANL and Fermilab).
Chicagoland: Unless you’re in a niche area like agtech, Chicago is the place to be for AI. It was identified as a Star Hub in the 2025 Brookings Metro report on Mapping the AI Economy. It was ranked in the top 10 of Top Metros by Net Tech Employment in a CompTIA report on the State of the Tech Workforce 2025 (right behind Seattle and Boston). And it’s usually in the top 3 of U.S. cities with Fortune 500 headquarters. As an insider tip, pay attention to what’s happening in the city’s trading firms—High-Frequency Trading (HFT) is a big deal in Chicago and many firms are looking for top AI graduates.
Startups & Innovation: Contrary to rumor, llinois does have a startup scene. Chicago was ranked #16 in Startup Genome’s Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2025 and #1 in Midwest Startup City Rankings. The city is less “buzzy” than coastal hubs, but activity is happening. According to the World Business Chicago Research Center’s 2025 analysis on Chicagoland’s AI Economy, 306 companies within the AI & machine learning vertical in Chicagoland have raised $10.6 billion in growth capital funding since 2019. University initiatives like the UChicago Science Incubator are spinning out early-stage science & tech startups. And AI entrepreneurs in Chicago are finding support from 1871, the #1 private business incubator in the world.
R&D: We’ve already mentioned the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), the state’s massive federally-funded research and development DOE center in Lemont, but we also want to highlight the ANL’s Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) and its Aurora exacale supercomputer, which is now fully open to researchers. Aurora will be powering a lot of new AI work from university institutes. Quantum professionals should also be pleased to hear that PsiQuantum is building the first utility-scale quantum computer at the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park (IQMP). So look for breakthroughs in photonics and HPC supply chains and new industry collaborations within Chicagoland.
University of Illinois Projects: Once you get outside of Chicago, UIUC becomes a major player in AI developments, especially in agriculture & farming. The university’s Research Park is the third largest employer in Champaign County and more than 250 startups have graduated from its EnterpriseWorks Incubator for early-stage tech firms since 2003. In 2025, EnterpriseWorks nabbed a $3M state grant to add a second growth-stage incubator that aligns with bioprocessing & bio-manufacturing. The U of I System also funds the state-backed Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), which supports AI, quantum, and future of computing projects in areas such as climate, food, fintech, and agtech research (e.g. Cannabis Research Institute).

Illinois Artificial Intelligence Resources

Newcomers to the Illinois area can get a head-start on their AI job search by exploring the following list of resources, including popular AI & tech weeks in Chicago, AI meetups & incubator groups, and active artificial intelligence university research centers & labs.