UCF commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield was booed by graduates of the College of Arts & Humanities & Nicholson School of Communication & Media after making Pro-AI comments during her speech.
During UCF’s graduation ceremony on May 8th at 7 pm, Gloria Caulfield, the Vice President of Strategic Alliances for Tavistock Development Company, took the stage to speak to the graduates. Everything was going smoothly as the speaker began encouraging the graduates to “soak in this experience”.
The speaker went on to discuss famous leaders from around the world and how they were once dreamers, just like the young graduates, and to discuss Jeff Bezos’s journey in depth.
The speech continued without issue, and the speaker even praised the arts, such as theatre, music, and art as medicine. She then cited research stating that it’s critical to human health.
However, once the speaker began discussing change, she boldly stated:
“The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution.” This was met with an uproar of boos. One student was heard yelling, “AI sucks!” at the speaker.
Claufield tried to laugh off the graduates’ responses and continued speaking about AI, remarking how it was not a factor in our lives a few years ago. This statement was interrupted by graduates’ cheering.
Laughing off the response once again, the speaker continued to praise AI and was met with more boos.
Claufield then went on to compare the rise of the internet to the rise of AI.
At the end of her speech, she proceeded to insist on the importance of communication, and for the third time, she called this another industrial revolution and concluded her speech.
Knight News reached out to some of the graduates who were in attendance, and many seemed to agree that what the speaker had to say was extremely “tone deaf” on the topic.
“As someone going into journalism along with my colleagues who graduated that night, our career path is compromised by AI. The same can be said by those in the college of arts and humanities,” said Don Strouble, who continued to emphasize that many people are at risk from AI use.
He added that he felt pro-AI business people were trying to “force a state of acceptance about something hostile to not only our livelihood but the environment and the livelihood of people living near data centers.”
Another graduate, Jason Gansham, shared similar sentiments, also calling the speaker tone deaf, considering the demographic she was speaking to and that the graduates are all heading into the workforce for entry-level positions, which are trending to be eliminated thanks to AI.
Another student getting their master’s, Braondon Cominksy, said, “The whole speech praising AI was out of touch with reality and left many of us feeling upset and not inspired.”
From the students interviewed by Knight News, all seemed to share a similar opinion: Caufield’s remarks were tone-deaf to the damage AI has done to the workforce and the environment, and the students made it very clear at the ceremony.
