This past month, an Arizona college skipped or mispronounced hundreds of students’ names at their graduation due to an AI software glitch from a system that the school incorporated. Additionally, this graduation season many commencement speakers have been referencing AI in their speeches.

Both these instances have caused an uproar amongst students sharing their opinions on AI. What does this mean for how much we’ve been incorporating AI into our daily life? What does it mean for the future of AI use in universities?

The question arises – what do students at the University of Denver think about this AI use? 

Students at DU hold many opinions on this topic. Gillian Bush, a graduating senior shares her input.

“It was an unnecessary use of AI,” Bush stated.

Bush explained that she believes when there are humans available that could complete a task, AI isn’t needed.

Bush goes on to share how she doesn’t feel the use of AI in this scenario aligns with the goals and values of the universities, “the pursuit of knowledge,” as Bush describes it.

She voices her fears on people in university settings getting too dependent on AI, and how this could negatively affect the future achievement of higher education goals.

Ella Lannan shares similar thoughts on the situation. Lannan expresses empathy for the hundreds of students whose names were skipped and reflects on how if she were in the same situation, she would feel upset.

“It’s kind of insane that they used AI,” says Lannan, upon learning about the situation.

She touches on how minimal AI use can be beneficial, however for significant events such as graduation, she feels it reflects negatively on the university. Lannan ties in the unfairness of this situation to the skipped students who have worked so hard for four years and deserved their walk at graduation.

Additionally, the negative environmental effects of AI are also a factor from Lannan’s perspective on why she attempts to keep her usage of the software to a minimum.

Lastly, Maija deCovich shares her thoughts and opinions on the matter. Her values and priorities when it comes to AI align fairly similarly to Bush and Lannan’s.

deCovich expressed her shock towards the event, as it seems completely avoidable. “

It’s incredibly easy to have a human being announce names,” she explains.

deCovich, like many others, wonders what led to the making of the ultimate decision to use AI for this important ceremony.

Although deCovich describes how she uses AI fairly often, the motive behind the use is to outline or collect resources. She feels this usage largely differs from that of a university that’s jeopardizing an extremely important event with the use of AI software.

All three of these DU students share their thoughts, disappointment, anger, and shock that came with learning about the incident that took place at this college graduation.

“It reflects negatively on the university,” Lannan states.

AI is a rapidly growing technology, and many students and professors alike use it, but where do we draw the line?