--- title: "Students Boo and Jeer as AI Name-Reader Flops Spectacularly at College Graduation Ceremony" description: "A college president was booed after a generative AI tool tasked with reading graduating students' names completely bungled the job." date: "2026-05-19" modified: "2026-05-19" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-name-reader-flops-college-graduation" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" --- # Students Boo and Jeer as AI Name-Reader Flops Spectacularly at College Graduation Ceremony ![A person wearing a black graduation cap and gown is covering their face with both hands. The background features a red grid pattern with a large yellow circle behind the person.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images* 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." https://twitter.com/FearedBuck/status/2056441544660398181?s=20 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](). **More on AI and graduation:** *[Graduation Speaker Shocked When She’s Loudly Booed by Students for Saying AI Is the Future]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()