More girls chose to take A-level computing this year, despite fewer students taking the subject overall.
The number of girls who took A-level computing increased by 3.5% this year, compared with 2024, meaning girls accounted for 18.6% of computing entrants in 2025.
But the overall number of students choosing to take computing A-levels declined by 2.8% this year, after a number of years of increased interest in the subject – meaning a drop in the number of boys choosing the subject this year.
Ian Thomas, chief operating officer at IT service provider Node4, said: “It is disappointing to see that the number of students studying computing has fallen by 2.8% this year, especially as 93% of mid-market organisations in the UK report they are experiencing an IT skills shortage.”
Thomas highlighted: “It is essential that educational institutions nurture the interest young people naturally have for technology. Today’s students have grown up with technology, with mobile phones and computers readily available, and more often than not, they are the ones called upon to help with IT issues at home.
“However, this passion isn’t converting into chosen career paths. This suggests that there is a disconnect between school curriculums and real-world technological developments, which is failing to engage the younger generations.”
The number of students taking science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects has dropped in general this year. While maths, further maths and physics all saw an increase in candidates taking exams this year, the increases were far smaller than we saw last year.
But the sixth-year increase in the number of girls choosing to take computing at A-level is a positive trend. The number of girls taking A-level computing in the UK has been rising each year, from 1,797 in 2020, to 2,031 in 2021, 2,352 in 2022, 2,765 in 2023, 3,556 in 2024, and now 3,679 in 2025.
I’m excited that young women are seizing their future in greater numbers – especially in areas like AI where diversity is vital to ensure decisions and outcomes are good for everyone. We need this momentum to accelerate Julia Adamson, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT also found the number of women choosing computing at degree level increased this year.
Julia Adamson, BCS executive director for education and public benefit, said: “I’m excited that young women are seizing their future in greater numbers – especially in areas like AI [artificial intelligence] where diversity is vital to ensure decisions and outcomes are good for everyone. We need this momentum to accelerate.”
Grade attainment for A-level computing rose again this year, with girls – as usual – achieving higher grades than boys. Some 7.1% of female candidates achieved A* in the subject, compared with 5.7% of male candidates.
Girls performed better than boys at every grade attainment level: 72.4% of female students achieved at least a C grade, compared with 69.7% of male students; 52% of female students achieved at least a B grade, while only 48.1% of male students achieved at least a B; and 28% of female students achieved at least an A grade, compared with 24.5% of male students.
Overall, 70.2% of students who took the computing exam achieved at least a C grade, 48.9% achieved at least a B grade, and slightly more than a quarter achieved at least an A, showing an increase in attainment of higher grades this year when compared with last year.
While those taking exams performed well, many have shown concern over the slowing uptake of STEM subjects this year, as well as the drop in A-level computing candidates, especially in the wake of rapidly developing technology such as AI, which requires an increasing number of skilled and diverse workers to ensure this technology serves everyone.
Heather Dawe, chief data scientist, UK, and head of responsible AI at digital transformation company, UST, said: “It’s promising to see the number of young women taking A-level computing increase year-on-year, reflecting real progress in closing the gender gap through inclusive education and early STEM programmes.
“More women in tech will bring a diversity of perspectives that drive innovation and result in fairer, more inclusive digital technologies for everyone. At the same time, the overall decline in candidates highlights the need for further action to ensure everyone can benefit from and contribute to the digital age.
“Schools, governments and industry alike need to examine the latest data to identify the gaps and take the necessary steps to strengthen the UK’s tech ecosystem as a whole.”
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Pete Hegseth, the secretary of the Department of Defense, said in a recent press conference that the operation could last as long as eight weeks. President Donald Trump himself said in a press conference on March 2 that the administration projected the operation would last four or five weeks but had “the capability to go far longer than that.”
This week Iran has responded in turn, attacking Israel, regional US embassies and military bases, and other sites across the Middle East. Iran has peppered neighboring countries with hundreds of drone and ballistic missile strikes since the operation began. While many of these have been intercepted, over a thousand people have died in the region and multiple buildings have been damaged, including luxury hotels in Dubai, US military bases and embassies, and international airports and marine ports.
Israel has also started bombarding Lebanon, following strikes at the country by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The Trump administration has given various, and at times seemingly contradictory, justifications for the military action, citing everything from potential “nuclear threat” to unverified claims that Iran attempted to interfere in the 2020 and 2024 US presidential elections. As of March 5, Congress, which in the US has the sole power to declare war, has not done so.
The attacks have already disrupted supply chains, creating uncertainty for the oil and gas and fertilizer industries as key infrastructure has been targeted or shut down out of caution. Shipping traffic has halted along the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route.
As the conflict continues to escalate and expand, WIRED is tracking which countries have been affected and how. This article was last updated on March 5.
Iran
As of March 4, Iranian state media estimates that over 1,000 people have died in the country since the US-Israeli attacks began. Several schools and hospitals have been hit, according to Al Jazeera. The Israeli Air Force says it has struck Iran with over 5,000 munitions since the beginning of the operation.
Israel
Israel has faced retaliatory strikes from Iran. As of March 4, at least 11 people have died and over 40 buildings have been damaged in Tel Aviv, according to Al Jazeera.
Azerbaijan
On March 5, Azerbaijan said drone attacks launched from Iran had crossed over the country’s borders and damaged an airport building and two civilians. President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan said that the country’s military forces “have been instructed to prepare and implement appropriate retaliatory measures,” according to Reuters. Iran has denied responsibility for the attacks, according to Al Jazeera.
Bahrain
Missile and drone strikes have targeted different locations in Bahrain, including a US naval base, according to the BBC. On March 2, Amazon reported that a drone strike occurred in close proximity to one of its data centers in the country. CNBC later reported that Iranian state media said that Iran had targeted the data center because of the company’s support of the US military.
Cyprus
On March 2, a drone strike hit a British air base in Cyprus, according to Reuters. It caused limited damage and no casualties. Greece, the UK, and France have lent defensive support to the country, according to a Bloomberg report.
Iraq
Since February 28, there have been reports of multiple Iranian strikes aimed at a US military base near the Erbil International Airport, according to the nonprofit monitoring group Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.
Jordan
Jordan’s armed forces have intercepted dozens of missiles since the start of the conflict. At least one Iranian-backed militant group in Iraq has claimed responsibility, according to the Associated Press. On March 2, the US Embassy in the country announced that all its personnel had temporarily departed.
Kuwait
Kuwait has endured multiple waves of Iranian missile and drone attacks since February 28. On March 2, US Central Command said in a statement that three US fighter jets were accidentally struck down by Kuwaiti air defenses during an attack that included Iranian aircraft, missiles, and drones.
Lebanon
Israel attacked southern Lebanon after the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah launched rocket and drone attacks against them. Lebanon prime minister Nawaf Salam subsequently banned Hezbollah’s military and security activities, according to Al Jazeera.
Oman
Oman’s Duqm commercial port has been hit by several drone attacks, according to Al Jazeera. Omani authorities have said at least one oil tanker off the country’s port of Khasab in the Strait of Hormuz has been attacked.
Qatar
On March 2, QatarEnergy posted on X saying that it would halt production of liquified natural gas following a military attack on its operational facilities in the country. It did not attribute the attack to any particular country. On March 3, it posted again, saying that it would also stop the production of additional products, including urea, polymers, methanol, and aluminum.
Saudi Arabia
Infrastructure in Saudi Arabia has been targeted with projectiles. On March 3, the US embassy in Riyadh, the country’s capital, was damaged following an attack. On March 4, Reuters reported that one of the Saudi Aramco’s largest domestic refineries of Saudi Aramco, the majority state-owned oil company, was targeted by an attempted drone attack.
Syria
Tom Fletcher, the United Nations undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, says that civilians and civilian infrastructure were under attack in several countries including Syria.
Turkey
On March 4, the Turkish Ministry of National Defence announced that NATO had intercepted ballistic munitions launched from Iran, and that munition fragments had fallen into Hatay, a province that borders the Mediterranean Sea and Syria. Iran has denied any missile launch towards the country.
United Arab Emirates
As of March 4, UAE Ministry of Defence officials say that the country has intercepted hundreds of drone and missile attacks from Iran. Despite the relatively high rate of interceptions, debris created by the fallout has still damaged areas of the country. In Dubai, the luxury hotel Burj Al Arab was struck by debris, as well as the Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island home to high-end hotels and apartments. On March 2, Amazon Web Services announced that two of its facilities were directly struck in the country, causing “elevated error rates and degraded availability.”
Countries Evacuating Citizens
On March 2, US assistant secretary of state for consular affairs Mora Namdar posted on X urging Americans to depart from several middle eastern countries due to “serious safety risks.” On March 4, Reuters reported that the US military has offered seats on military transport planes to Americans trying to leave the region.
Over a dozen countries have announced that they will be evacuating their citizens from the area or sponsoring repatriation flights, including the UK, Ireland, Germany and Italy.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is still in the hot seat this week after his company signed a deal with the US military. OpenAI employees have criticized the move, which came after Anthropic’s roughly $200 million contract with the Pentagon imploded, and asked Altman to release more information about the agreement. Altman admitted it looked “sloppy” in a social media post.
While this incident has become a major news story, it may just be the latest and most public example of OpenAI creating vague policies around how the US military can access its AI.
In 2023, OpenAI’s usage policy explicitly banned the military from accessing its AI models. But some OpenAI employees discovered the Pentagon had already started experimenting with Azure OpenAI, a version of OpenAI’s models offered by Microsoft, two sources familiar with the matter said. At the time, Microsoft had been contracting with the Department of Defense for decades. It was also OpenAI’s largest investor, and had broad license to commercialize the startup’s technology.
That same year, OpenAI employees saw Pentagon officials walking through the company’s San Francisco offices, the sources said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity as they aren’t licensed to comment on private company matters.
Some OpenAI employees were wary about associating with the Pentagon, while others were simply confused about what OpenAI’s usage policies meant. Did the policy apply to Microsoft? While sources tell WIRED it was not clear to most employees at the time, spokespeople from OpenAI and Microsoft say Azure OpenAI products are not, and were not, subject to OpenAI’s policies.
“Microsoft has a product called the Azure OpenAI Service that became available to the US Government in 2023 and is subject to Microsoft terms of service,” said spokesperson Frank Shaw in a statement to WIRED. Microsoft declined to comment specifically on when it made Azure OpenAI available to the Pentagon, but notes the service was not approved for “top secret” government workloads until 2025.
“AI is already playing a significant role in national security and we believe it’s important to have a seat at the table to help ensure it’s deployed safely and responsibly,” OpenAI spokesperson Liz Bourgeois said in a statement. “We’ve been transparent with our employees as we’ve approached this work, providing regular updates and dedicated channels where teams can ask questions and engage directly with our national security team.”
The Department of Defense did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
By January 2024, OpenAI updated its policies to remove the blanket ban on military use. Several OpenAI employees found out about the policy update through an article in The Intercept, sources say. Company leaders later addressed the change at an all-hands meeting, explaining how the company would tread carefully in this area moving forward.
In December 2024, OpenAI announced a partnership with Anduril to develop and deploy AI systems for “national security missions.” Ahead of the announcement, OpenAI told employees that the partnership was narrow in scope and would only deal with unclassified workloads, the same sources said. This stood in contrast to a deal Anthropic had signed with Palantir, which would see Anthropic’s AI used for classified military work.
Palantir approached OpenAI in the fall of 2024 to discuss participating in their “FedStart” program, an OpenAI spokesperson confirmed to WIRED. The company ultimately turned it down, and told employees it would’ve been too high-risk, two sources familiar with the matter tell WIRED. However, OpenAI now works with Palantir in other ways.
Around the time the Anduril deal was announced, a few dozen OpenAI employees joined a public Slack channel to discuss their concerns about the company’s military partnerships, sources say and a spokesperson confirmed. Some believed the company’s models were too unreliable to handle a user’s credit card information, let alone assist Americans on the battlefield.
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