Let’s put aside the discussion of whether their enthusiasm for the tech is merited or not, that is beside the point.
A commencement speaker is not there to talk about themselves or their favorite things. They are not there to teach the graduates anything or try to debate with the graduates.
A commencement speaker is there to honor and respect the graduates. To commend them on how far they have come and express optimism for what they will bring to society in the future. To make them feel appreciated for all they have done and are about to do. To feel inspired by what they have accomplished and the possibilities they bring to society. There has been and will be plenty of opportunity to educate, debate, and convince them, but this is not the venue for any of that.
Speaking about how “awesome” AI is and how they should be grateful for it is disrespecting them by failing to let them be the focus of their own graduation.
“I’m working on a machine that will make you guys redundant, and then I’ll make those booing me see. l’ll make you all see.” is hardly going to do that.
He would be much better off talking about how it was the stuff of science fiction not long ago, and how the graduates would be helping to push humanity forward, and make real, things that were also previously considered impossible.
Some of the talks are also just really bad. I’ve seen a few, and they’re little more than ads, or bragging about a thing the institution is doing that’s unrelated to the graduates themselves. Saw one where the speaker was talking about how the college was using AI for various things. Why even have that in the graduates’ speech?
These folks just don’t get it.
Let’s put aside the discussion of whether their enthusiasm for the tech is merited or not, that is beside the point.
A commencement speaker is not there to talk about themselves or their favorite things. They are not there to teach the graduates anything or try to debate with the graduates.
A commencement speaker is there to honor and respect the graduates. To commend them on how far they have come and express optimism for what they will bring to society in the future. To make them feel appreciated for all they have done and are about to do. To feel inspired by what they have accomplished and the possibilities they bring to society. There has been and will be plenty of opportunity to educate, debate, and convince them, but this is not the venue for any of that.
Speaking about how “awesome” AI is and how they should be grateful for it is disrespecting them by failing to let them be the focus of their own graduation.
Also to rouse and inspire them.
“I’m working on a machine that will make you guys redundant, and then I’ll make those booing me see. l’ll make you all see.” is hardly going to do that.
He would be much better off talking about how it was the stuff of science fiction not long ago, and how the graduates would be helping to push humanity forward, and make real, things that were also previously considered impossible.
Some of the talks are also just really bad. I’ve seen a few, and they’re little more than ads, or bragging about a thing the institution is doing that’s unrelated to the graduates themselves. Saw one where the speaker was talking about how the college was using AI for various things. Why even have that in the graduates’ speech?
the “Some of you may die” speech by Lord Farquaad from Shrek would be too on-the-nose, tho.