May 21, 2026
College graduation speeches typically follow a familiar script: Work hard. Stay curious. Embrace change. Go build the future. (And, famously, wear sunscreen.)
But artificial intelligence has entered the commencement chat, and a lot of graduating seniors aren’t having it. Across several college campuses this spring, the mere mention of AI has triggered something closer to a revolt.
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When former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently told graduates at the University of Arizona that AI would “shape the world,” parts of the crowd erupted into boos. Schmidt paused and acknowledged the hostility in real time: “I know what many of you are feeling about that,” he said. “I can hear you.”
But this wasn’t an isolated moment.
At the University of Central Florida, real estate executive Gloria Caulfield was booed after calling AI “the next industrial revolution.” At Middle Tennessee State University, Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta faced similar backlash after discussing AI’s growing role in music and business.
For years, Silicon Valley sold AI as exciting, empowering and inevitable. But many graduates entering one of the toughest entry-level job markets in years are hearing something different: replacement and rejection.
And they’re saying it out loud.
Students are worried
Major tech companies have spent the past two years aggressively pitching AI as a way to automate tasks once handled by junior employees. At the same time, employers across industries are experimenting with AI tools that can summarize meetings, generate marketing copy, analyze spreadsheets, write code and handle customer service requests.
This is leaving many students to wonder what might be left for humans, especially new graduates trying to get a foot in the door.
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A recent Gallup-Lumina study on AI in higher education found that 57% of college students now use AI tools weekly or daily for coursework, yet roughly half of students say their schools discourage or prohibit its use.
The mixed messaging is becoming hard to ignore: Students are being warned not to rely on AI in the classroom while simultaneously hearing CEOs declare that mastering AI is essential for survival in the workforce.
Meanwhile, public skepticism around AI keeps climbing. A Pew Research Center survey on AI attitudes found that half of Americans are now “more concerned than excited” about AI’s growing role in daily life, while only 10% say they are more excited than concerned.
And unlike previous waves of automation that primarily threatened factory work, this one appears aimed squarely at white-collar office jobs traditionally filled by recent graduates.
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Boos aren’t necessarily about rejection
Many experts still argue AI will ultimately create more jobs than it destroys, much like the internet did in previous decades. Some economists believe AI could increase productivity, lower business costs and generate entirely new categories of work that don’t yet exist.
But that’s cold comfort to graduates staring at immediate uncertainty. And students aren’t only worried about jobs: there’s also a growing frustration that AI has crept into nearly every aspect of life, from hiring decisions to education to creative work, without much public input.
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And when AI backfires, it can do so spectacularly. One Arizona community college recently apologized after an AI-powered system mishandled graduates’ names during commencement ceremonies.
For many young Americans, the boos that rained down on Schmidt and other speakers may have been less about rejecting technology altogether and more about exhaustion with being told disruption is automatically progress.
Why you can’t ignore or blindly trust AI
AI is already becoming deeply embedded in finance, healthcare, marketing, law, software development and customer service. Meanwhile, employers increasingly expect workers to understand how AI tools function and where they can improve productivity.
But experts also warn against treating AI as infallible.
Generative AI systems still routinely produce false information, flawed analysis and biased outputs, leaving many companies to awkwardly figure out where AI genuinely saves time versus where it creates risk.
That means one of the most valuable skills for future workers may not be knowing how to blindly use AI, but knowing when not to trust it. Consider the commencement remarks of Adobe AI expert Chris Duffey, who recently told students at Marquette University that AI’s implementation was up to them.
“Innovation will reveal what can be done,” he said, “but only you can decide what should be done.”
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Chris Clark is a Kansas City–based freelance journalist covering personal finance, housing and retirement. A former Associated Press editor and reporter, he writes plainspoken stories that help readers make smarter financial decisions.
