Some recent grads aren’t happy about the AI voice at their graduation ceremony
Northeastern University used artificial intelligence as part of a recent graduation ceremony, but not everyone is pleased about it.
Boston.com reported that students’ names were not called out by faculty as they might have been in past years, but heard their names recited by an AI-powered tool called Tassel.
“It just felt so alien and weird, and I felt really pulled from the moment in a lot of ways,” Henry Bova, a recent Northeastern graduate, told Boston.com.
Bova wrote in an opinion piece for The Huntington News that for human members of the university to read students’ names is “the least” they could have done.
“At least, that was how it felt after hearing my name read out in a booming, stilted AI voice rather than by a human after four years of working diligently in the School of Journalism,” he wrote. “This choice registered as disrespectful, lazy and, frankly, on-brand for Northeastern, a university that has prioritized its stature as a technology-forward university at every possible turn.”
Other students agreed that the decision was unsettling. Some said it was disrespectful. But Renata Nyul, a Northeastern spokesperson, told Boston.com that “each ceremony was thoughtfully planned and executed to provide a memorable experience for all.” She added that the feedback the university received had been “overwhelmingly positive.”
Tassel, which on its website advertises that its product can produce “the perfect moment,” contains functions to automate planning and promotion of graduation events. “Our software has thought of everything, so you don’t have to,” the website reads.
Some of the universities named as customers on Tassel’s website include the University of Michigan, Stanford University, the University of Southern California and Arizona State Univeristy.
