For it's spring commencement on Saturday, D’Youville University, a private institution in Buffalo, had an AI robot named Sophia address a crowd of more than 2,000 students, faculty members and their families in a bold decision that drew mixed reactions.

Dr. Lorrie Clemo, the president of D’Youville University, said in an interview on Wednesday that the university wanted to open up new perspectives around AI, given its “rapid emergence into the broad society.”

“We wanted to showcase how important technology is, and the potential for technology to really enrich the human experience,” Dr. Clemo said.