PLANO, Texas (WFAA) – A Texas school district plans to use artificial intelligence to announce students\u2019 names at all its high school graduations this spring, sparking conflicting reactions among the district\u2019s seniors.<\/p>\n
When 18-year-old Avery Cousins and the rest of her classmates graduate from Plano High School in May, it will be a moment to remember \u2013 but maybe not how she\u2019d like.<\/p>\n
The Plano Independent School District recently announced it will use NameCheck, an AI-powered pronunciation tool, to announce the names at all high school graduations this spring. This will allow students to record and train the system to say their names correctly. <\/p>\n
\u201cNames matter, and we want your big moment to feel personal and accurate,\u201d the district wrote in an email to parents.<\/p>\n
The district says not only will its decision improve accuracy but create a more seamless experience.<\/p>\n
For Cousins, the change is hard to accept.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really sunk in how wild this decision was,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is such a distinct human factor to having somebody who knows you and contributed to your education say your name while you walk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other students say they support the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s very cool how the technology is coming along,\u201d senior Holden Schmidt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d rather have my name said correctly at graduation…especially since it\u2019s such a big day for me,\u201d senior Bridgette Cruz said.<\/p>\n
Watt Lesley Black Jr., who teaches education policy at Southern Methodist University, says the issue highlights a broader tension. He questions whether the change may spark more backlash than benefit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a question of efficiency versus tradition or accuracy versus authenticity,\u201d Black said. \u201cTo me…the juice is not worth the squeeze. Graduation ceremonies are one of the most change-resistant and tradition-laden things that we do in education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cousins has taken action, starting a petition to bring back a human announcer. She says support came quickly, but her ultimate hope is to have the majority of the seniors from her school sign.<\/p>\n
She says she doesn\u2019t discount the importance of pronouncing names accurately and wishes there was some middle ground where the AI can be used as a tool for the human announcer to verify before calling out the name on stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something distinctly valuable about having a human experience, even when it\u2019s imperfect,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The school district says its decision comes after feedback from past graduations and notes the AI system will also display names on a large screen. The annual cost of the software and service is less than $10,000 for all four graduations, according to the district.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WFAA via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PLANO, Texas (WFAA) – A Texas school district plans to use artificial intelligence to announce students\u2019 names at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,6083,6087,25,6084,6086,6085,106],"class_list":{"0":"post-6639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ai","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-ai-at-high-school-graduation","10":"tag-ai-graduation","11":"tag-artificial-intelligence","12":"tag-namecheck","13":"tag-petition-against-ai-at-graduation","14":"tag-pronounce-names-correctly-at-graduation","15":"tag-texas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}