Why AI is leading to boos at 2026 college graduations : NPR

Real estate executive Gloria Caulfield (left) was the graduation speaker at the University of Central Florida and Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta spoke at the graduation at Middle Tennessee State University. Both speakers were booed by students when they talked about artificial intelligence.

University of Central Florida and Middle Tennessee State University via Storyful/Screenshots by NPR

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University of Central Florida and Middle Tennessee State University via Storyful/Screenshots by NPR

Glendale Community College’s commencement ceremonies encountered a problem as students walked across the stage to receive their diplomas last week. Wrong names were read aloud at the ceremony, just outside Phoenix. The names of some graduates were not even read.

College President Tiffany Hernandez tried to explain the problem. “We’re using a new AI system as a player,” she said, prompting loud boos from the audience. (In a statement, the college blamed technical issues and said it apologized to students for the experience.)

Other commencement speakers who have spoken about the sweeping changes brought about by artificial intelligence are also facing boos from the Class of 2026.

Gloria Caulfield, director of real estate, described AI to the University of Central Florida’s graduating class on May 8 as “the next industrial revolution.”

The booing started almost immediately.

“OK, I struck a chord,” Caulfield said.

Graduate students at Middle Tennessee State University booed when record executive Scott Borschetta told them during their May 9 commencement ceremony, “The AI ​​is rewriting the production while we sit here.” Borschetta responded to the boos: “Deal with him. Like I said, he’s a tool.” As the boos continued, he added, “Then do something. It’s a tool. Make it work for you.”

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was repeatedly booed by University of Arizona graduates during their May 15 commencement, including when he said, “The question is not whether AI will shape the world. She will. The question is whether you will help shape artificial intelligence. »

ChatGPT launched in 2022, when many of this year’s undergraduates were just starting college. Many have embraced AI for better or worse, whether to build businesses or to cheat.

But despite – or perhaps because of – these experiences, many graduates believe these boos are justified.

“I think my gut reaction was that I would be one of those people in the crowd booing,” said Maggie Simmons, who will attend her own graduation ceremony at the University of Denver next month.

She told NPR she fears AI will harm the planet and black and minority communities. AI language models have been found to reinforce systemic racism and the data centers needed to operate AI systems have disproportionately impacted minority neighborhoods.

“The future should be these people in this room who are graduating and now entering the workforce,” said Simmons, who studied molecular biology and Spanish to prepare to one day become a pediatrician. “We should celebrate them and their brains, not an artificial intelligence that in the future will take their jobs, and especially without regulation.”

Kareen Gill, a recent political science graduate from an American university, believes that much of her generation is pessimistic about AI.

“I think at first we were excited about it and it was this cool thing, ‘Oh, I can write an essay for you,’ but now we don’t want that and we don’t want it to ruin our job prospects and ruin the jobs that we worked for years – so hard for four years – to somehow be eligible for,” Gill said.

One immediate impact Gill said he’s noticed is fewer internships and entry-level positions doing things like answering phones, as AI replaces some of those jobs.

“We’re seeing this first-hand and seeing how it puts us at a disadvantage,” Gill said. “But I don’t think older generations are necessarily in our shoes in that way. It’s not really going to impact their future and the rest of their adult lives in the same way.”

Indeed, a March poll by Quinnipiac University showed that there are generational differences in the extent to which Americans worry about AI taking jobs.

“Generation Z, despite being more familiar with AI, is the most pessimistic about employment, with 81% saying AI will reduce job opportunities,” said Chetan Jaiswal, associate professor of computer science and associate chair of Quinnipiac’s computer science department who also worked on the poll.

Jaiswal said the poll showed that Americans as a whole were more concerned and less enthusiastic about AI, as the impacts of the technology became more evident.

“People are not rejecting AI, but they are asking questions now since the initial AI fever has died down,” Jaiswal said.

That point was echoed by Gill, the recent UA graduate, who said her generation’s concerns about AI go far beyond getting their first job.

“The way they are enriching billionaires and depleting our environment has really opened our eyes to the ripple effects of AI,” she said.

Indeed, the Quinnipiac poll reveals that only 5% of Americans believe that the development of AI is led by people or organizations that represent their interests.