Some students believe president’s welcome video was AI-generated
As students return to campus to begin the new year, many new and returning students were shocked last week by a stunning sight. Amidst the fanfare of 101 Week and students entering the wrong rooms for their classes, U of O president Jacques Frémont made a surprise visit to campus to open the new year.
The visit comes as a stunning surprise considering many students had never seen the president and vice-chancellor before. Frémont’s trip to campus shocked returning students, as his appearance on campus marks the first time many have seen him outside his Montréal residence.
“I have never seen him before in my life outside of his videos on Instagram. I was starting to think he was just AI-generated considering he supposedly spends more time on his yacht than on campus.” commented Justin A. Guy, a fourth-year criminology student. “It’s great to see he was back but honestly, I think we were just surprised that he’s actually real.”
While many students have speculated that this is an attempt to reassure the U of O student population that he is indeed present and human, most feel that this effort largely failed — while Frémont seemed to be enjoying the 101 Week festivities, most students failed to recognize him at all.
“Honestly, at first I thought he was a grandpa helping a student move into residence,” stated a third-year computer science student. “Considering he lives in Montréal, some of us wondered if he remembers where he works. Most of us have no idea what he looks like anyway. When I found out he was the president, I was surprised that he actually mingled with students.”
In a separate video, Frémont welcomed new students to campus to start the new academic year and welcome all returning students. Despite this, many students still doubt whether or not he actually appeared on campus as the video shows signs of being AI-generated. These rumours have recently escalated as following the video above, Frémont announced he would be resigning as president of the university, suggesting that a single day of interaction with the students of the school he governs was one too many.
The university has not officially commented on whether or not Frémont had to be convinced he was still in Montréal in order for him to attend the 101 Week festivities.
