AI is everywhere these days, but if there’s one place I didn’t expect it to show up is at a college graduation. You know, a time and place when we’re celebrating human accomplishment and talking about their future potential?

But that’s exactly what happened when graduates from D’Youville University sat through their ceremony.

Dressed in a D’Youville hoodie, “Sophia” gave generic, dry advice for the future. The speech wasn’t scripted, but “she” answered questions from an emcee.

Her odd, tooth-filled grin was nothing short of creepy.

🎓 🎉THANK YOU to everyone who joined us for our Virtual Graduation celebration to honor the class of #DY2020. If you still need to watch (or re-watch) the video it's up on our YouTube channel. Congratulations to the D'Youville class of 2020! 🎓 🎉 pic.twitter.com/NHB7Ov0010

— D'Youville University (@DYouville) May 17, 2020

The reactions were mixed, but according to New York Times reporting, many students felt insulted by the move.

The university president, Lorrie Clemo, though, claims their intentions were pure.

“We wanted to showcase how important technology is, and the potential for technology to really enrich the human experience.”

More than 2,500 students signed a petition requesting a human speaker, claiming the robot taking the stage felt disrespectful.

The petition claimed that the robot speaker was impersonal, and an unwanted reminder of the virtual high school graduation ceremonies that occurred during COVID.

“This is shameful to the graduates receiving their diplomas, as they feel they are having another important ceremony taken away.”

D’Youville University has AI robot give commencement speech at graduation pic.twitter.com/lL0vV0EF5q

— Kim Kim (@Mystique_fafo) May 19, 2024

It seems that, if showcasing AI technology was the goal, it did a good job at detailing how “good” it is at repackaging what has already been said by human beings.

“I offer you the following inspirational advice that is common at all graduation ceremonies: Embrace lifelong learning, be adaptable, pursue your passions, take risks, foster meaningful connections, make a positive impact, and believe in yourself.”

“Sophia” was built by by Hong Kong firm Hanson Robotics.

I think I would have been pretty upset if I had been one of those students.

The administration took a day that was supposed to be all about them, and turned it into some weird plug for our AI future.

If you enjoyed that story, check out what happened when a guy gave ChatGPT $100 to make as money as possible, and it turned out exactly how you would expect.