Rector Ghent University withdraws from UvA honorary doctorate after AI speech

Ghent University rector Petra De Sutter was due to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam this week, but has decided to forgo it after multiple AI-generated quotations were discovered in her inaugural speech.

“Dogma is the enemy of progress, you may know it.” In the speech she delivered last September, the new rector Petra De Sutter cited, among others, Albert Einstein. But it turned out that he never uttered these words; the quotations had been invented by AI.

The Ghent gynaecologist was due to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) this week for ‘her significant contributions to medical science’ and her ‘influential social engagement’, but this will now not go ahead.

No appropriate moment

De Sutter has announced that she is withdrawing from the award ceremony. Given the circumstances, she does not consider it an appropriate moment and also wants to avoid harming the UvA, reports university magazine Folia. A spokesperson for the UvA says they understand the decision and call it ‘the right step’.

During her election campaign (rectors are elected in Belgium), the rector had already warned against the blind use of AI. Now she is admitting fault: “I deeply regret that I fell into this trap. This experience is a valuable lesson for me and will undoubtedly further fuel the debate around the use of AI”, De Sutter tells VRT NWS.