The AI Hype Index: AI gets booed in graduation season
Quick Answer
During a graduation speech at the University of Arizona, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt faced boos when discussing the role of the class of 2026 in shaping AI.
Quick Take
During a graduation speech at the University of Arizona, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt faced boos when discussing the role of the class of 2026 in shaping AI. This reaction highlights a growing skepticism among younger generations towards AI's promises and implications.
Key Points
- Eric Schmidt's speech on AI was met with boos from graduates.
- The class of 2026 shows skepticism towards AI's impact on their future.
- The incident reflects a broader discontent with AI narratives among youth.
- Graduates are questioning the optimistic projections about AI's role in society.
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~1 min readMIT Technology Review’s highly subjective take on the latest buzz about AI
It is one thing to say AI will change the world. It is another to expect the class of 2026 to applaud it. In fact, when former Google CEO Eric Schmidt told University of Arizona graduates that their task is to help shape AI, he was met with a resounding chorus of boos. “I can hear you,” he said, before conceding that fears about disappearing jobs and a broken future were “rational.”
This is not exactly the message one hopes to hear while sweating under a polyester gown and tallying student loan payments. Graduates have been jeering at AI pep talks at other commencements too, including ceremonies at the University of Central Florida and Middle Tennessee State University. Still, increasingly loud skepticism hasn’t stopped OpenAI from winning court cases, raising enormous sums of money, and launching new partnerships. And AI is even earning some unlikely cheerleaders: Reese Witherspoon has warned women to embrace it or be replaced by it.
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