The recent commencement exercise held by D’Youville University (DYU) of Buffalo, NY featured an artificially intelligent robot as commencement speaker. Prior to the actual holding of the spring graduation program last Saturday, students had submitted a petition for the school to replace Sopha the AI-powered robot as their graduation speaker; but to no avail.
According to Benjamin Grant, DYUniversity’s vice president for student affairs, the school chose to uphold their choice of speaker. The private institution referred to an AI-powered robot as it identifies with the university’s development theme for the incoming year.
Moreover, it was not the first time that Sophoa will appear as guest speaker since the robot has already delivered addresses as speaker in more than 65 countries under the auspices of the United Nation.
Humanoid Sophia’s Appearance as Guest of Jimmy Fallon’s Show
Actually, Sophia appeared in Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show to announce its forthcoming engagement as the commencement speaker to deliver a timely social topic related to DYU’s offering of educational and humanitarian programming all through the school year.
Sophia’s engagement as commencement speaker was by way of an interview-style discussion with the president of DYU’s Student Government, John Rizk. When Rizk asked Sophia for inspirational advice, Sophia merely repeated insights commonly mentioned in all graduation programs:
- That graduating students must embrace learning as a lifelong endeavor. \
- They must maintain adaptability when in pursuit of their goals and passion.\
- They must not be afraid to take risks but work toward making meaningful connections that will make a positive impact. Doing so will strengthen their belief that they can achieve their goals.
