“Cutting 16 professions at once,” are the first group of people forced out of work by AI appearing?

Major shake‑up at Communication University of China

It has been reported that on March 9 the Communication University of China (中国传媒大学) quietly removed 16 undergraduate majors and directions — including translation, photography, comics and several design‑oriented tracks — from its 2026 admissions plan, triggering alarm among art students and their families. Admissions tables show five fewer art majors than last year: photography, visual communication design, comics, animation (game‑art direction) and new media art. Social media quickly filled with reactions: some declared these fields “doomed by AI,” while others mourned that their craft had become a vanishing skill.

Students, faculty and officials respond

Students and teachers say the change was a long time coming. Photography students described AI‑centred course renamings and class discussions increasingly focused on “intelligent” imaging; one cohort found photography no longer listed as a separate enrolment option when the 2026 prospectus appeared. Communication University party secretary Liao Xiangzhong (廖祥忠) told reporters the move is a systematic “professional optimisation,” not a denial of photography’s value — the school plans to rework pedagogy around a “human‑machine division of labour” and shift what classroom teaching must do versus what can be delegated to algorithms.

A national pivot toward art+tech

This is not isolated. It has been reported that Jilin University (吉林大学) stopped admitting 19 programmes this year, six in the arts; East China Normal University (华东师范大学) and Tongji University (同济大学) have also consolidated or halted traditional art majors. At the same time, the Education Ministry’s 2025 undergraduate catalogue added new art‑tech hybrids — digital drama, intelligent imaging art, virtual space art, game art design — and institutions such as the Shanghai Vancouver Film School (上海温哥华电影学院) have opened China’s first “AI film production” major. Against a backdrop of global AI competition and export controls on advanced chips, Chinese universities are accelerating structural shifts that marry creative curricula with AI and immersive technologies.

What this means for students and the creative workforce

For many families the calculus has changed: art used to be an alternative route to university; now students are being urged to learn AI tools as part of basic craft. Training centres report falling enrolments in traditional studio courses while AI and digital design classes fill up fast. Are these the first signs of AI‑driven displacement in creative professions, or the start of an uneasy redefinition of artistic work? Some educators frame the lost majors as “industry‑level non‑heritage” — worth preserving in niche form but unlikely to return to mass demand — while others argue AI will remain a tool that artists must learn to command, not simply a replacement.