As college students prepare to graduate into an entry-level job market upended by artificial intelligence, some Marquette seniors are criticizing the university's decision to invite a speaker to graduation who works in the AI industry.
Chris Duffey is a Marquette alumnus and the head of artificial intelligence products and platforms at Adobe. Last month, Marquette leaders announced he would deliver the address at graduation this May. University President Dr. Kimo Ah Yun said Duffey will bring a unique perspective to graduates entering an "unprecedented landscape of technological advancement and ethical dilemma.”
But some students say Marquette's choice of Duffey is "hypocritical" for a university that doesn't have a campus-wide policy on using artificial intelligence.
To understand student reaction, WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal spoke with Elena Metinidis. She’s a reporter at Marquette’s student newspaper covering the story.
In February, Metinidis wrote a story titled "A ‘slap in the face’: Marquette University students, alumni frustrated with AI-focused commencement speaker decision."
Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Katherine Kokal: Last month, Marquette University announced its graduation speaker, Chris Duffey. Elena, can you tell me about some of the student feedback that you heard in your reporting?
Elena Metinidis: Definitely. A big consensus was that, okay, these are seniors. They've been at Marquette for four years. They've worked very hard, and their next step is to go into the workforce. And what we're seeing with all these entry-level jobs being taken or changed by AI, everyone was definitely worried about having a speaker that works so closely with AI and that is speaking to them at their graduation when they're about to maybe struggle to find jobs, next week after they graduate. So that was a big consensus was we've worked so hard and now we're struggling, but Marquette is platforming this AI leader.
There were no initial good reactions from students. Hence the title of the piece, I got four separate times that it's "a slap in the face." So that was a huge eye-opener for me to hear that from four separate students out of the eight that I interviewed.
You point out that this doesn't seem to be specific to Chris Duffey and his work at Adobe, but more AI and platforming AI in general, right?
You report in your story that Marquette doesn't have a blanket policy for AI usage by students. It kind of varies by instructor.
This came up a lot in this story that students think it's very odd that there's no AI policy for the university, but they're making such a huge statement with this speaker who's closely tied to AI. So students just were very confused because Marquette doesn't have a stance on AI as a university,
As a student, especially when the semester starts, it's weird to get all of the different feedback from professors where one says, "I will not allow it at all." One says, "Eh, it's fine, but you have to take the right steps." Or free range. So it's very interesting because you just have to remember what professor wants what and what they're okay with, and what the overall course calls for.
You can read Metinidis' piece here on the Marquette Wire website.
Chris Duffey and Adobe did not respond to a request for comment by deadline for this report.
Marquette University is a financial supporter of WUWM.
Do you have a question about education or how schools work in our area? Submit it here to WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal.
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