University Sparks Debate After Using AI To Announce Students' Names At Graduation

Ah, college graduation season. This time of year usually brings clips of intellectuals or celebrities bestowing wisdom, some questionable fashions under those caps and gowns, and, inevitably, some sort of controversy.

This year? AI.

In a twist, this was not about students using AI, but the university itself using an AI-generated voice to assist with name reading during the ceremony.

In a move that left some students feeling cold, Pace University had graduating students pre-approve an AI-generated voice to read their name. Students then scanned a corresponding barcode on their phones, whereupon their names were “read aloud” by the AI voice.

It was a little uncanny.

The barcode scanner looks identical to one that is used at a grocery check out, and the whole process left many students with “the ick.” The move further turned a college degree into something that felt transactional, rather than a celebration of several years of effort, dreams, and for most, a whole lot of money.

Universities are grappling with the explosion of AI and automation in the collegiate experience. Some colleges are sticking to their guns and remaining old school, while others have attempted, to mixed results, to meet the students and technology where they are.

Pace University, with over 13,000 students at a time, is certainly not a small enough school to totally ignore possibilities that technological advances in automation can offer. Anyone who has sat through a large university graduation might agree with the decision to pick up the ... pace.

As with most things AI, opinions were mixed.

One upside was the efficiency in an otherwise error-prone process, especially at large universities.

It was also was lacking in humanity.

Others felt it seemed lazy on the university’s part to not have someone reading the names.

Maybe the first time, but certainly not the last. Are AI-generated voices (and barcodes) the future of college graduations?