College Graduates Boo AI Speakers

At US university commencements this year, speakers who talked about AI faced fierce booing from students. At the University of Arizona, when former Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke about the rise of AI, about 10,000 graduates responded with boos. Similar reactions occurred at the University of Central Florida and Middle Tennessee State University.

Behind this is serious youth unemployment. The unemployment rate for college graduates aged 22-27 has hit its highest level in 12 years, and about 70% of college students see AI as a threat to their job prospects.

At a time when finding a job is already difficult, the message to embrace a technology that could take away that opportunity angered graduates.