Last Friday, San José State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson released a video to students of an artificial intelligence (AI) avatar of herself, leaving students, faculty and staff at SJSU wondering about the future of artificial intelligence on campus.
Since the emergence of AI, the university has expressed its willingness to embrace the technology and find ways to ethically apply it into the institution, according to the SJSU Office of the President webpage.
Michelle Smith McDonald, senior director of media relations, offered her insight on the matter, suggesting that the partnerships the school has with tech companies was a factor in the creation of the AI video.
“We have been working and partnering with companies that create AI,” Smith McDonald said. “We have partnerships with NVIDIA, we have this CSU partnership and the president was looking for an opportunity to model AI use.”
NVIDIA partnered with the City of San José and SJSU last December to train people in using AI responsibly, according to a Dec. 12, 2024 article from Fox KTVU.
The AI chipmaker company also just recently hosted its GTC conference in downtown San José where developers, the tech community and students can learn more about AI, according to NVIDIA GTC’s webpage.
Edward Belmudes, a third-year student studying computer network system management, said he has mixed feelings about President Teniente-Matson's video.
“Watching the AI video of President Cynthia was interesting,” Belmudes said. “I think that her message in the video has a lack of sincerity (and) felt like she’s talking about things that aren't really positively impacting the school.”
Belmudes also said he feels that the president was trying to emphasize relatability to the tech conglomerate that exists here in San José.
“I think she’s trying to show a message that we’re connected with Silicon Valley, empowering the advancement of AI and using AI in school for educational purposes,” Belmudes said.
The university recently launched a new college back in September of 2024 that focuses primarily on artificial intelligence known as the College of Information, Data and Society according to a Sept. 17, 2024 article from NBC Bay Area.
Smith McDonald also mentioned that HeyGen, an AI video-generating platform was used to make the video.
HeyGen offers the ability for the user to clone themselves and type a text in which that AI avatar can recite in a video, according to the platform’s webpage.
Wendy Lee, an associate professor in the computer science department, knows of platforms similar to HeyGen and what that entails regarding its ethical usage.
Her research interests include topics such as AI-driven bioinformatics and computational genomics, according to the SJSU computer science faculty webpage.
“I've seen products like that generated from platforms like this and obviously it has a lot of ethical issues,” Lee said. “It’s messing with areas that you might start questioning are these videos authentic, or is an AI generated, especially now with all the events happening across the globe.”
When it comes to the funding of this initiative, Smith McDonald said that the HeyGen payment that the school is currently using cost $862 per year and that the money to pay for it came from the SJSU IT department.
In a university budget town hall in March of 2024, it is noted that every division including the IT department was required to take a 6% budget cut for the 2024-2025 fiscal year because of the university’s budget deficit, according to a webpage from the SJSU IT blog.
Concerning the human interaction aspect of the president’s decision to use AI for communicative purposes, Lee expressed that it might not be the healthiest option for students to be receiving AI videos from a likeness of the president.
“People probably will feel a lot more excited to actually interact with the president, rather than the avatar,” Lee said. “The level of human interaction, the network (and) the emotional connection is the most valuable thing when people talk.”
