Mumbai: Emphasising that artificial intelligence can process past data but never truly comprehend human suffering, Dr C.S. Pramesh, Director of Tata Memorial Hospital, urged graduating students at the 86th convocation ceremony of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to rely on human judgment and preserve their core values in an increasingly automated world. 1,376 students were a part of the graduating cohort. The establishment of the Viksit Bharat Vichar Kendra, a think tank, and a new Centre for AI under the Ratan Tata School of Analytics was announced, along with an ongoing staffing deficit with only 130 of 189 UGC-sanctioned posts filled.Speaking at the ceremony, Chancellor D.P. Singh invoked the myth of Samudra Manthan to reflect on modern technological disruption. He noted that just as Durvasa’s curse led the devtas and asurs to churn the ocean—bringing forth poison before the elixir of immortality—AI represents the churning of the present age, bringing both harm and potential that requires human wisdom to navigate. He also lauded the graduating class as part of the “most empowered generation” holding ancient libraries and weather forecasts on a single slab of glass, while thanking the families who made quiet sacrifices behind the scenes.In his convocation address, Dr. C.S. Pramesh warned against allowing technology to replace critical thinking. “The brain is like a muscle, and if not used, it will eventually forget to think. A machine works with data, but the people this institute was built to serve are rarely recorded in data. A machine may record a person’s hunger, but never feel it,” he said. Recalling his own early medical career sitting outside KEM Hospital typing his thesis with a typist, Dr. Pramesh urged the graduates to remain curious rather than cynical, guard their integrity fiercely, and base decisions on evidence rather than ideology.The event took place weeks after a controversy over the chief guest invitation caused a last-minute postponement of the original Aug 2 ceremony. Following student protests and security concerns regarding initial chief guest CJI Surya Kant.A special ceremony was held for Shrutika Baranwal one of the 21 victims of the June Hauz Rani blaze in Delhi this year. The 25 year old got a master’s degree in water policy posthumously.
