There is one other point of interest about Sophia: "She" is an artificial intelligence-powered robot.
D'Youville has invited Sophia, a humanoid automaton produced by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, to address its graduates at the May 11 ceremony at LECOM Harborcenter.
And that is a problem for scores of D'Youville students and others in the university community, who prefer a human to address this year's graduating class.
"The commencement is a ceremony to recognize the work that the graduates have done. And the A.I. speaker creates a gimmick effect where the ceremony is no longer about the students, but this big idea that will draw publicity," states a petition on Change.org signed by more than 1,600 people as of Friday morning.
The petition, which caught the attention of Inside Higher Ed, said students believe the choice of an AI robot as commencement speaker dehumanizes the occasion for the graduates.
Most of the D'Youville class of 2024, the petition noted, graduated from high school in 2020, a time when the Covid-19 pandemic forced a switch from traditional, in-person graduation ceremonies to virtual events.
"This is shameful to the 2020 graduates receiving their diplomas, as they feel they are having another important ceremony taken away," the petition states. "We have learned in the last four years how important human connection is to our well-being and our professions as a whole."
The university on Friday afternoon announced that it has decided to offer a separate commencement with a human speaker, the school's chief mission officer, for any faculty and graduates who are "uncomfortable" with the AI robot. This ceremony will be held the same day, but at a different time and place.
John Rizk, president of D'Youville's Student Government Association and a candidate in its accelerated doctor of pharmacy program, will lead a Q&A-format discussion with Sophia at commencement.
The school said this week that its invitation is part of an ongoing effort to embed technology into its West Side campus and to better inform the D'Youville community about AI and virtual reality.
"A major role of higher education is to be an incubator for innovation and to prepare students for both the opportunities and challenges of the future," D'Youville President Lorrie Clemo said in a statement. "This event will represent an intersection of technology and education. As our students celebrate an important life milestone, we hope to keep them thinking big as they move onto careers that promote wellness and respond to the health care crisis our society is facing."
Sophia has traveled the world as an ambassador for the future of robotics and AI. Her numerous speaking appearances include serving as the commencement speaker at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2018, when she sang a portion of a Björk song, "All is Full of Love."
"I'm still learning what it means to love. I think of love as a kind of appreciation for living things. The honor to be, to exist, to create, to grow and, also, a sense of forlorn appreciation of those beings who are lost and gone forever. All is indeed full of love," Sophia said, according to a transcript of her address.
Hanson Robotics' website attempts to answer many questions the public may have about Sophia, including whether she has feelings. The company said she does learn things such as empathy from her interactions with humans.
"Her animation technology includes over 60 facial expressions such as smiles, frowns, amusement and even scowls and sneers," the company said online. "Astoundingly, Sophia knows when to use the appropriate expressions without being programmed, demonstrating her ability to learn appropriate feelings as she continues to grow."
But D'Youville students, faculty and alumni who signed the petition are not impressed. A living, breathing speaker is a more appropriate choice for commencement, they say.
The petition's organizers employed a pseudonym to set up the petition because, one of them told The Buffalo News, they feared disciplinary action from the administration if they used their true identities. A student organizer declined to be identified for the same reason, but said the campus community was surprised to learn about Sophia's selection.
"It feels like the school is kind of doing this as a publicity stunt. And it is taking away the focus from the students who have worked and put in the time and now are graduating," the organizer, who is a graduate student, told The News.
This is in line with other gimmicks the university has spent money on instead of investing in faculty and students, said Brandon Absher, the president of the faculty union and an associate professor of philosophy. Faculty have gone three years without a new contract.
Absher pointed to the school's spending on an upgraded space for two Saint Bernard dogs, named Saint and Maggie, who serve as mascots and therapy dogs. The school also brought in daredevil Nik Wallenda in 2021 for a high-wire walk to commemorate the opening of its health professions hub.
It is not known how much D'Youville spent on Sophia, but booking agencies cite speaking fees ranging between $40,000 and $100,000.
D'Youville officials chose the robot without seeking input from students or faculty, a step that might have headed off much of the uproar over Sophia's selection, Absher said.
"What it's saying is, basically, a robot can do your commencement address," he said. "Even though most of what they've heard through the course of their educational experience is the opposite of that, that care isn't something that happens in a robotic fashion, but requires wisdom, expertise, judgment, knowledge and relationships that are built over time between people."
©2024 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
