I’d lean towards the Software Development track, partly because that’s my background, and partially because it sounds like it would offer a better foundation in development fundamentals. I suspect AI is going to change significantly over the next couple of decades, so I suspect it would be less future proof.

Am I crazy for doing this later in life?

No. The best time to plant a tree is fifty years ago, the second best time is now.

When you get into development shops, you should discover that you’re promoted based on merit (if not, run). If that’s the case, use your maturity, and you’ll hopefully be able to progress quickly.

By using your maturity, I mean: have empathy for the user, focus on the most important parts of your project first, and speak up when you encounter problems. When I was a fresh dev, I focused on what was technically feasible, did the easy parts first, and tried to fight through problems on my own.

It sounds like you’re going to school with much more of a professional interest than an academic interest in software. In other words, you belong more in Software Engineering classes than Computer Science classes.

I got a BS in CS with an AI specialization about 10 years ago and the AI part resulted in absolutely nothing professionally, even though I applied to just as many AI jobs as non-AI. I don’t regret it though, because the classes interested me deeply on an academic level and going to college wasn’t solely about career prep for me.

Python … seems to be something that is not used as a standard backbone language for more enterprise level businesses

This is just flat out incorrect. Sure, very few enterprise programs are built entirely with Python, but many have components written in Python (especially in web), and Python is also a popular choice for build scripts and other internal software development tools. Python makes the process of going from idea to working program faster than any other language, which the bean counters like, so trust me, you will see Python everywhere in the industry.

One last thing, we are 110% approaching another AI winter because businessmen oversold each other on what language models are capable of and now they’re all getting super pessimistic about AI. So unless it’s something you’re passionate about, maybe look elsewhere…

I’m gonna go ahead and agree with the other comments.

I’m gonna ignore any future projections on where both fields are headed, but basically if you would apply for them rn, software development leaves the nature of your future job out in the open and basically opens you up with a huge number of opportunities.

The AI one sounds cool too, but as someone who works in a company focused on research in CS-related fields, I can tell you the skillset you are required to have in order to implement AIs in any way is vastly different from software development. You lean even more into math, things stay more theoretical and academic a lot of the time and AI also forces you to think more unconventional and counter-intuitively. Now this is not in itself a bad thing, but it does narrow you down to that very specific field and it does not sound like you wanna dig yourself down another rabbit hole of a profession.

Only do AI if you are really keen to do it and you are happy even if you might be stuck in that specific field later on.

TL;DR go software development. AI doesn’t sound like a fit for you from what I could gather.

P.s. you can always fuck with AIs in your free time if you want. That’s more fun anyway.

If you need to crowdsource this decision do not go to college immediately.

College is expensive as fuck, and it is wasted on someone who doesn’t have a burning desire to be there for a specific course of study.

Instead, go live the life of a person without a degree. Just be a human for a while, and learn how to the world works. Then go to college.

If you go to college without a clear mission, you’re going to be twiddling your thumbs in a place that costs more than continuous international travel. Like, go travel internationally if you want a mind-expanding experience of self discovery. That will help you pick a major.

I say this as someone who went to college “as my destiny”. I went to college because it was always assumed I would go. I wasted time, money, energy, and opportunity by doing so.

College used to be a place to find yourself. Then it started costing five figures per year, and it became a place you go to get what you need to make more money. That’s what it still is, and will continue to be until it becomes inexpensive again.

Traveling the world, staying in hostels, learning bits of languages, meeting other travelers and locals, getting a little month to month apartment and waiting tables in a foreign city, partying with the locals, getting involved in whatever they’re doing, this is cheaper than college, and far more valuable, if you’re at a place where you don’t know which degree you want.

I know it takes a lot of courage to buck the trend and do what all the (foolish) grey-haired people in your life are doing.

But trust me. College is a different thing than it used to be, specifically because it got super fucking expensive.

College stopped being casual, and started being a very serious thing, and in that way it changed fundamentally from a place of exploration into a place of industry. It is not a place to fuck around. I mean, it is, but not wisely. There are far cheaper, far better places to explore yourself and the world.