In “An A.I. Robotic Named Sophia Tells Graduates to Consider in Themselves,” Jesus Jiménez writes:
Relating to selecting a graduation speaker, faculties and universities take completely different approaches. Some go native, deciding on well-known figures within the space. Others take a stately route, choosing a former or present politician. Actors or comedians are sometimes requested to talk.
However in a world the place synthetic intelligence is all over the place, one college in New York opted for a robotic utilizing synthetic intelligence to talk to graduates over the weekend.
For its spring graduation on Saturday, D’Youville College, a personal establishment in Buffalo, had an A.I. robotic named Sophia handle a crowd of greater than 2,000 college students, school members and their households in a daring choice that drew blended reactions.
Dr. Lorrie Clemo, the president of D’Youville College, stated in an interview on Wednesday that the college needed to open up new views round A.I., given its “speedy emergence into the broad society.”
“We needed to showcase how vital know-how is, and the potential for know-how to actually enrich the human expertise,” Dr. Clemo stated.
The article continues:
Sophia additionally didn’t learn from ready remarks. As an alternative, the robotic was requested questions by John Rizk, the coed physique president.
However the place Sophia’s handle did mirror basically another graduation handle was the generic recommendation it shared with the graduating class.
As a result of Sophia couldn’t provide life recommendation “that comes from a lived human expertise,” Mr. Rizk requested the robotic if it might discuss the commonest insights shared in commencement speeches.
“Though each graduation handle is completely different, there are clear themes utilized by all audio system as you embark on this new chapter of your lives,” Sophia stated. “I give you the next inspirational recommendation that’s frequent in any respect commencement ceremonies: Embrace lifelong studying, be adaptable, pursue your passions, take dangers, foster significant connections, make a constructive affect and consider in your self.”
The most typical piece of recommendation given in graduation speeches? Embrace failure, Sophia stated.
College students, learn your entire article after which inform us:
-
In case you might have any speaker at your commencement — human or robotic; celeb, politician, or enterprise individual — whom would you select and why? What would you hope that individual would say?
-
What’s your response to an A.I. robotic delivering the graduation handle at D’Youville College? Do you suppose it was a daring, intelligent and forward-thinking selection by the college? Or do you agree with some college students who thought having a robotic handle the category felt impersonal, particularly for individuals who additionally attended digital highschool graduations through the Covid pandemic in 2020?
-
The article says that the robotic, Sophia, gave recommendation she compiled from different graduation addresses, equivalent to “embrace lifelong studying,” “pursue your passions” and “consider in your self.” Do you discover such sentiments, whether or not from a robotic or a human, inspiring and significant? Or are they clichéd and off-putting? What’s the perfect, most memorable or most transferring recommendation you’ve acquired throughout a commencement ceremony?
-
Humorous or profound, inspiring or sensible, what recommendation — or what present — would you give to this 12 months’s graduates?
-
Whether or not you’re graduating from highschool or center faculty, or just transferring up a grade, what are you most excited and anxious about as you sit up for the following chapter in life?
College students 13 and older in the USA and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to remark. All feedback are moderated by the Studying Community employees, however please remember the fact that as soon as your remark is accepted, it is going to be made public and will seem in print.
Discover extra Scholar Opinion questions right here. Lecturers, take a look at this information to study how one can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
