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AI BriefWire / Briefing
Recent college graduation speakers promoting AI have been booed by students across the U.S. Microsoft’s Brad Smith responded with a detailed blog post urging open dialogue about AI concerns. This reflects growing public unease about AI despite its technological advances.
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A slew of viral clips show college graduates booing commencement speakers who mention AI.
A slew of viral clips show college graduates booing commencement speakers who mention AI.
New college graduates around the country have been booing and heckling commencement speakers who hype up AI. Microsoft would like everyone to talk it out.
In a blog post running more than 3,100 words, Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith addressed the recent spate of viral clips from graduation ceremonies, like former Google CEO Eric Schmidt getting an earful at the University of Arizona, or the speaker in Florida who seemed surprised when students booed at the mention of AI as “the next industrial revolution.” The videos speak to a broader societal sentiment around AI — the technology is deeply unpopular even as technology companies insert it everywhere without consent. Young people use AI, yet feel bad about it. The backlash against massive data centers is shaping up to be a defining political issue. There’s the sense that these viral clips are a cathartic expression of just how out of touch executives and technocrats really are.
In the blog post, Smith takes a conciliatory tone: Of course young people are reacting this way. It’s the wake-up call for the adults in the room!
“Graduating students who grimace or even boo at references to AI are telling us what we need to hear, that it’s time once again to raise the bar,” Smith writes. “That has been a frequent refrain from students for decades. The key is always to channel uncertainty into purposeful steps that build a better future.”
But in substance, the blog post is similar to the line of reasoning that have elicited the boos in the first place: that AI will reshape culture, labor, and relationships in ways we might not even understand yet. Smith also suggests graduates are more attuned to an AI-filled future, having grown up with technology and being more nimble to change.