Delta CEO – Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian told graduates at Emory University he used AI to draft his commencement speech, but quickly scrapped it for lacking “soul” and “warmth.” In a nod to a changing job market, he urged students to rely on their own voice and protect
When Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian took the stage at Emory University in Atlanta on Monday, he didn’t try to sell the graduating class on the latest technology. He admitted he had used artificial intelligence to draft his commencement address, then threw it away.
Bastian told the class of more than 5,000 students that “out of curiosity” he asked AI to prepare the speech, saying he was “amazed at how quick and easy it was generated.” But he also said he noticed what the draft lacked.
“It had the lack of soul nor warmth it conveyed,” he said. “It was not my personal voice, and it did not express my genuine appreciation for the opportunity to impart my insights to thousands of you. You want to hear from me, not some algorithm of me.”
After that admission, the room shifted. Bastian assured the graduates that the AI-generated draft was not the final product.
“So, don’t worry,” he told the crowd. “I threw it away, and took pencil to paper.”
His message landed as thousands of new grads brace for a job market increasingly reshaped by AI, and his tone came as a counterpoint to recent commencement controversies elsewhere. The change was noticeable in the reaction too: Bastian was met with applause.
In contrast, at the University of Central Florida last Friday, humanities department commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield, vice president of strategic alliances at Tavistock Development Co., was booed after touting AI as the “next industrial revolution.”
Bastian’s own path to Delta’s top job dates back to 1998, when he joined the company as vice president of finance. He worked his way up until becoming CEO in 2016, during which Delta has grown to surpass a market capitalization of $46 billion, according to his remarks.
Alongside his comment on AI, he spoke to graduates about decisions that come with trade-offs. He pointed to the temptation to take shortcuts, saying he had faced “tough decisions” throughout his career.
“Doing the right thing comes at a cost,” he told the students. “But I always prefer to think of it as an investment, a smart investment.”
He added that “taking a shortcut or pushing the easy button can sometimes be quite tempting,” but warned that such moves “never yield an enduring result or an effective solution.”
Unlike some speakers who have leaned into big promises about technology, Bastian did not pitch AI tools as the answer. He also avoided promising an “AI revolution.” Instead, he framed what he called the most important asset for graduates as something far more personal.
He told the class their most important asset is a “good name.”
“It’s your brand,” Bastian said. “It’s what you stand for. And there’s only one person that can take that away from you. That person is you.”
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