ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES

#Graduation #AI #fail seems to be a recurring theme lately

Here's the latest 🍿 for you:

#Glendale community #college in #Arizona used AI to read names

Predictably, it missed people, it had the names out of order, etc

Because, of course, a human reading the names of #graduates and giving them simple decent recognition for their dedication and work is too hard?

This is video of college #faculty trying to explain the debacle. The crowd reaction is not supportive

And oh yeah: Fuck AI

May 20 at 10:33pmWeb
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESMay 20

#CNN on instagram has video of an example of the #graduation #AI #fail at #Glendale CC in #Arizona

no, that is not Derek Martinez

🤦‍♂️

and isn't it lovely to do all that hard work in college and then in the moment of your success and triumph you're churned through with a robot's voice instead of a fucking human being?

😠

Show threadPeterMay 20

@benroyce

This is so stupid! And unnecessary.

All they had to do was have a human with a microphone and list of names, but they went with a text-to-speech system?

Tech for tech's sake is never a good option.

And I spent my whole life working in tech.

Show threadNandor 🏳️‍🌈May 20

@PeterLG @benroyce I'm an AI statistician and I agree with you! Use tech for things that humans are really bad at and tech is much better at, not things that humans are inherently better at but just more expensive for.

(And in this case, how much more expensive would it have been to have a human saying the names?)

Show threadPatrick Lam May 21

@nandor @PeterLG @benroyce I have read names at convocation but I actually took a lot of care to read the 100 odd names I had per year. Most people weren't as good at me.

Apparently Waterloo now hires a (human) professional. It's probably a reasonable sum that we're paying them.

Show threadPusher of PixelsMay 20

@PeterLG @benroyce saw a comment that's probably spot on.

"which faculty got a kickback or discount for pushing the AI software"

there's just no way this is done for funsies...especially at a community college.

Show threadPeterMay 20

@pixelpusher220

Nah, I think you're discounting the blindness of some people.

@benroyce

Show threadMr. TeatimeMay 21

@pixelpusher220

I'm sure they'll deal with it by purchasing a more expensive licence next year.

The solution to broken tech is always more tech.

@PeterLG @benroyce

Show threadClaudioMMay 20
@PeterLG Not to mention all of the money that was wasted to have that fail in epic fashion. @benroyce
Show threadAsh-Miw-ReMay 21
@PeterLG @benroyce I noticed today that my local grocery store has started doing announcements this way. Not even pre-recorded advertising announcements they'd have to repeat regularly, but impromptu things, too. It makes no sense to me even there, but for a serious and meaningful occasion like a graduation it's terrible. What next, AI eulogies for your funeral?
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESMay 21

@Ashmire @PeterLG

Don't give them ideas!

Show threadDopes The FrogmanMay 20
@benroyce at that point, just open the floor and let the students find their own pieces of expensive toilet paper
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESMay 20
@macacator 😂
Show threadMastodon MigrationMay 21

@benroyce

Gentle people, when some wanker who has made billions of dollars lying to investors, employers and customers tells you that you should use his crappy technology for a simple task that you already know how to do very well, just tell him to fuck right off.

Show threadCarolynMay 21
@benroyce Why even? This demonstrates a HUGE issue with AI: it absolutely was NOT necessary for this.
Show threadGurre VildskäggMay 21
@benroyce
Prefect time & place for like a powerpoint presentation with tons of pages that are just one name at a time. I really don't get why one would think injecting AI into the process would make it better in any way.
Show threadRantingCanuckMay 20

@benroyce

I genuinely don't understand why they would spend money on AI to read names at graduation... getting a faculty member to volunteer to do it, a faculty member who is already being paid a salary and thus costs nothing extra, is better in every possible scenario.

Maybe next year they'll hire a trained dog to bark out the names? It would go over better

Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESMay 20

@RantingCanuck

we're still in the dreamy honeymoon phase of starry eyed "AI for everything!"

even things, as you note, that do not remotely deserve an AI treatment. and is even rather insulting and cold

i suspect that will change

it damn well better change

Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMay 20

@benroyce @RantingCanuck

trained doggo would be more popular with the students and provide a cute video (you could dress it up in cap and gown ) 🎓 🐶

Show threadwil e. coyoteMay 21
@RantingCanuck I was assuming it's a case of "we paid for it, we have to figure out something to do with it." @benroyce
Show threadScott WillseyMay 21

@RantingCanuck @benroyce @dilmandila

That would be amazing! I would love it if a dog had barked out my name at my graduation

Show threadZii0May 20
@benroyce that's so pathetic
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESMay 20

@zii_0

it really is. i would even say indecent and cold

Show threadlemgandiMay 20
@benroyce Wow. I did not think any institution of higher learning was dumb enough to screw up a graduation ceremony with AI. Apparently I was mistaken.
Show threadDukeMay 21
@lemgandi @benroyce Florizona. 😑
Show threadMcRocker 🇨🇦🍁May 20

@benroyce

Isn't that cheating?

Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESMay 20
@McRocker 😆
Show threadPusher of PixelsMay 20
@benroyce gonna be an outlier year in alumni giving down the line.
Show threadRandall LeeMay 21
@benroyce I would have left after yelling, "fuck this AI bullshit".
Show threadmausmaloneMay 21
@benroyce the sad part is that the faculty and staff are proud of their graduates. Surely there would be volunteers to read the names if they only asked.
Show thread❤️ It's Gonna Be Maystodon 💚May 21

@benroyce Christ on 67 bicycles, this is infuriating.

"Just take pictures bro I promise you'll be able to remember this shitty moment bro just upload the pics to Insta bro you'll have something to remember us shitting on your graduation by bro plz bro just do AI bro"

Show threadKlappspatackMay 21
@benroyce this is so lousy
Show threadscunneen (he/him) 🚋May 21
@benroyce The rationalization for this is that the AI was trained on a variety of names from different cultures and so wouldn't mess upthe names of immigrant student, whereas it would not be practical for a single faculty member to memorize the pronunciation of the names of all 1000+ students in the graduating class. What I guess is that a white salesperson told a committee full of white people that students of color wanted this technology and the committee never bothered to ask said students.
Show threadalex helveticaMay 21

@benroyce My university student file had multiple typed up phonetic pronunciations of my (dead) last name, because they knew how important that is to their students.

I assume the teaching team noted them, because they're really good attempts. It showed they hadn't pulled them from a name pronunciation database from who-knows-where, because I highly doubt my family pronounces it in the correct German way.

I'm sure that university must have had something similar, and I fail to see how an AI agent could have reduced costs in a perceivable way.

They still had a speaker on the stage who could announce the student's names, someone to manage and monitor the stream and someone to direct the students to stage, who also could direct the speaker and stream monitor if someone is missing from the queue.

Show threadWolphinMay 21
@benroyce If my name was missed, I'd be demanding the money paid for the graduation event back, as they failed to provide a key part of the service to me (my recognition). I would word the demand as a consequence of their failure to make sure the product was correct.
People think computers cannot make mistakes. Computers make mistakes all the time; that is why there is error correction in almost everything. BUT they are only as good as the data going in, and AI is extremely flawed data.
Show thread@iveylineMay 21
@benroyce Why so many people detest AI. It is not fit for purpose.
Show threadMichelle PorcheMay 21
@benroyce no the picture is not the most important thing. It is hearing your name (or having it signed) with correct pronunciation when you are handed your diploma. The faculty - in their regalia - knows this. Shame!
Show threadGurre VildskäggMay 21

@benroyce

They're doing it to show how amazing AI is.
Text to speech is from the 90s. We ain't impressed.

Show threadViking ChieftainMay 21

@Gurre @benroyce

It's from the 1970s. Probably very crude, but it had to start somewhere. 🙂

Show threadGuillotine Jones, FlâneurMay 21
@benroyce
Refund these students' tuition, you sons of bitches.
Diplomas 4 graduates.
Bong hits 4 Jesus.
No Ai reader 4 graduations.
Show threadVerđandi K SoldustyMay 21
@benroyce
I don't think she knows what Critical Thinking is, as there seems to have been a glut of Failure of Critical Thinking to end up using something that's financially & environmentally costing much more than a tutor or a few tutors who are already on the university's payroll.
Show threadMan aging with two dogsMay 21

If I had just finished spending six figures to get a college education, I'd be livid if the institution did that.

@benroyce

Show threadEdoardo TenaniMay 21
@benroyce "I hope this will be the most meaningful.... ah..." They fucked up so badly, she knows how much of a delusion that was the moment she says "meaningful".
Show threadpunIssuerMay 22
@benroyce of course, nobody had the idea to check if the funky new AI system actually works with the names of this year's graduates 🙄
Show threadStargeezer SmithMay 22
@benroyce
You would assume, under these odd applications of AI, that we were desperately short of people.