AI Malfunction Disrupts Glendale Community College Graduation as Students Boo Name-Reading Failure

An AI announcer mispronounced and skipped names during a graduation

The use of AI-powered tools to announce students as they walk on stage during graduation and commencement ceremonies has grown in popularity over the past few years, but it's not always succeeding at the one job it's there for. Many schools have switched to these systems as a way to ensure names are being pronounced correctly, but during a recent livestream of a Glendale Community College commencement ceremony in Phoenix, Arizona, the AI announcer mispronounced some names and skipped others entirely as a result of timing issues as graduates walked across the stage. The ceremony was paused at least twice in an attempt to fix the issues, while the college's president, Tiffany Hernandez, apologized and explained to those in attendance that the AI name-reading tool was to blame for the hiccups. During the ceremony she also told the graduates affected by the issues that they would not be able to walk across the stage again, but after backlash, those graduates were eventually given a do-over with an actual human reading their names aloud. The selling point of these AI tools, including a popular platform called Tassel, is accuracy; they're an attempt to ensure the payoff for years of hard work goes perfectly for graduates when they finally receive their diploma on stage in front of friends and family. Tassel not only allows students to confirm how their names are pronounced and displayed, it also generates AI-powered previews so corrections can be made before the ceremony. Tassel's announcements are AI-generated from a model trained on voice actors so they sound natural and professional, but that approach can still make an important moment feel impersonal and automated. Other tools, such as StageClip's NameCheck, share correct pronunciations with a human announcer so they can practice them ahead of time. Glendale Community College did not confirm which AI system was used for this ceremony, but the hybrid approach could be a happy medium that prevents timing and mispronunciation issues while bringing more meaning with a human announcer. "When spoken by someone who knows the student or has taken the time to learn their name, it reflects respect and belonging. Outsourcing that responsibility can unintentionally send the message that efficiency matters more than identity," said June Prakash, the president of the teachers' union in Arlington, Virginia, while addressing the local school board there last month, according to EducationWeek. Arlington's Washington-Liberty High School canceled plans to use Tassel at a graduation ceremony next month.

Students Boo and Jeer as AI Name-Reader Flops Spectacularly at College Graduation Ceremony

Can't-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech The president of Glendale Community College was pelted with a chorus of furious boos after an AI tool tasked with reading graduating students' names completely and totally flunked the assignment. As local outlet AZFamily reported, students and families at the Phoenix-area school were left disoriented when the names being read over the ceremony's loudspeakers failed to match those of the students actually walking across the stage. The names displayed on the ceremony's jumbotron were also mismatched. "I also didn't hear a lot of cheering, and I know my family is a pretty loud family," graduating student Grace Reimer told AZFamily, explaining that she didn't quite realize what went wrong until she heard her own name announced as she watched another student walked to receive their diploma. "Yeah. That's not right," she told the outlet. "It definitely made me feel uneasy." After some starts and stops, college president Tiffany Hernandez took to the podium to reveal that the error was made by a "new AI system" the school was using, prompting a wave of boos and jeers. "That is a lesson learned for us," Hernandez continued. She then noted, optimistically, that the students whose names were bungled "were able to walk the stage and get a picture, which is what I would hope is the most meaningful." "I am so sorry," said Hernandez. "There's plenty of opportunities, I hope, to take some really good pictures and to celebrate you with your loved ones as well." She later offered that students could re-walk with their names re-read, should they choose to. Is the picture the most "meaningful" part of walking the stage at graduation, though? The whole point of a graduation ceremony is for each student to be recognized, collectively and individually, for the work that it took to earn a college degree. A photo is a way to commemorate the moment; it's not the moment itself. The moment itself is about having your achievement recognized, which -- yes -- involves hearing your name read out to a crowd as you receive your diploma, while people you love cheer for you from the stands. Now, for these students, that picture will recall the time they graduated from college, and the AI that was for some reason used to read their name spectacularly missed the mark -- the perfect celebration, perhaps, as they emerge into a job market that AI has made a nightmare for them.

An AI speaker messed up and skipped the names of students at a college commencement ceremony and yes, there were many boos

Well, it's been a hell of a few weeks for AI interfering with educational ceremonies, after two speakers at separate events (including ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt) were roundly booed for calling it the future. This instance, though, is slightly different. Glendale Community College used an AI system to read out graduates' names during a commencement ceremony, rather than a human speaker. Unfortunately, the machine not only mispronounced several students' names but also skipped some entirely due to an apparent timing error, which also caused the names displayed on the feed to stop changing. The ceremony was paused several times, while college president Tiffany Hernandez was forced to apologise. "Here's what's happening," said Hernandez to a disgruntled crowd. "We're using a new AI system as our reader..." Cue the inevitable boos and jeers. "So, that is a lesson learned for us. What we were able to do, though, is [that] each of you were able to walk the stage and get a picture, which is what I would hope would be the most meaningful..." More jeers. "So I'm going to have to disappoint many of you," Hernandez continued. "We will not be able to walk the stage a second time in order to have the name on the screen. You've handed over your cards, so we won't be able to do that. I am so sorry." Thankfully (and after much vocal complaint), the missed names were eventually read out by a human speaker. Without wishing to state the bleeding obvious, it seems more than a little lazy to fill a stage full of highly-educated people quite capable of reading names from a list, yet still use AI to do a (worse) job instead. Not to mention the message this sends to the students -- that one of the defining moments of their lives was thrown into chaos by a sloppy AI implementation before they've had a chance to negotiate their future careers. Which, according to some, stand a good chance of being turbo-screwed by the same tech. I despair sometimes, I really do. Good luck to the younger generation. I hope you're taking notes.

Arizona college skips over several graduates after an AI malfunction at commencement ceremony

The president of Glendale Community College in Arizona was met with loud booing by students after she admitted the artificial intelligence that was being used to read names skipped over some graduates at the commencement ceremony last week. Tiffany Hernandez, the college president, addressed the crowd toward the end of the ceremony to provide instructions on how to ensure everyone gets to walk across the stage. It was at that point that she explained the college was using an AI technology to read names, according to a YouTube stream of the ceremony. "So here's what's happening: we're using a new AI system as our reader," Hernandez told the students, who met her with overwhelming boos. "Yup, yup. So that is a lesson learned for us." She explained that they would not be able to redo the walk to include all the names on the screen, but those who were not initially called would be able to come onstage for their photo. Students were instructed to form two lines and provide their name to be announced it through the microphone. "I am so sorry," Hernandez said. "There's plenty of opportunities, I hope, to take some really good pictures and to celebrate you with your loved ones as well." Maricopa Community Colleges, which oversees the Glendale college, said in a statement that it communicated an apology directly to the students over the technical malfunction. "While the issue was corrected during the ceremony, we are sorry for the disruption it caused during what should have been a celebratory moment for our graduates and their families," the statement said. The incident happened as multiple commencement speakers across the country were booed for bringing up AI in their speeches to new graduates this year. At the nearby University of Arizona, Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was booed while tying the technology to the rise of the computer during his own college years. Schmidt spoke about how computers "democratized knowledge" and have been able to give everyone a voice -- though it also "degraded the public square." He began to draw a parallel between the rise of the computer and AI when he was met with an outpouring of dissent from the crowd. "I can hear you," Schmidt said amid the jeers. "There is a fear ... there is a fear in your generation that the future has already been written, that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating, that the climate is breaking, that politics is fractured, and that you are inheriting a mess that you did not create, and I understand that fear." Boos also resounded at the University of Central Florida commencement this month as well when Gloria Caulfield, a real estate executive, called AI the "next industrial revolution" in her own speech.