Each year, D’Youville University, a small, private institution in upstate New York, strives to bring in a commencement speaker to address a topic that’s both timely and relevant to its roughly 500 graduates.

Past topics have run the gamut, including gender equity and the opioid epidemic. This year, the obvious choice was artificial intelligence, said Lorrie Clemo, its president.

“AI seemed to be a clear topic among our student body and senior leadership,” Clemo said. “Then it was, ‘Okay, if we want to feature AI, who’s the best speaker to cover the topic?’ We needed someone to represent AI to make it very visual.”