Recently, videos have been surfacing on the internet of speakers at college graduation ceremonies being booed by students whenever AI was mentioned or praised in their speeches. It has recently been the central focus of commencement speeches, despite being widely unpopular with Gen Z.
During a graduation ceremony in Arizona, an AI name-reading system allegedly skipped the names of hundreds of graduates as they walked across the stage. The students who were skipped had already turned in their name cards before the ceremony, yet their names were not properly announced. The college’s president, Tiffany Hernandez, apologized for the error, stating, “We’re using a new AI system.” Video footage of the event shows the crowd loudly booing after the incident. The school later apologized for the error; however, that did not change the fact that many graduates’ big moment of walking across the stage and receiving their degree was tarnished by a faulty AI system.
In another incident, commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield, vice president of strategic alliances at Tavistock Group, told graduates that AI is the “next industrial revolution,” while speaking at the University of Central Florida’s College of Arts and Humanities and Nicholson School of Communication and Media. Caulfield was met with a hostile reaction and thousands of booing students, specifically humanities and communications graduates, who will surely struggle to find a job in the current market, gutted by AI. One audience member even yelled back, “AI sucks.”
Additionally, Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, was equally met with hisses and boos during his commencement speech at the University of Arizona. Schmidt stated, “The question is not whether AI will shape the world. It will. The question is whether you will have shaped artificial intelligence — You will help shape artificial intelligence.” These statements sparked immediate backlash, as the crowd booed in disapproval until he concluded his speech.
Many are calling these commencement speakers’ remarks tone-deaf and out of touch. Overall, the situation proves how little Gen Z actually cares about the push for AI. Despite CEOs and big corporations’ attempts to push the AI boom, young people, especially those entering the workforce, do not want it at all.
Young people are the future, and at present, the future says no.