Why Were They Booed by Graduates?
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What do you think is the most likely way to get booed at a commencement speech by graduates of a university? Simple... speak in a positive way about the impact of Artificial Intelligence ... AI.
Do you not believe me? Evidence can be found here. "Ex-Google CEO Gets Booed While Discussing AI in Commencement Speech". (May 18, 2026; WSJ News)
Former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt shared his thoughts on technology and artificial intelligence during a commencement address at the University of Arizona. He referred to TIME Magazine's Person of the Year 2025, which happened to be the architects of Artificial Intelligence (Jacobs, Dec. 11, 2025). And then he got booed.
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I have given commencement speeches in the past, and I managed not to get booed. 😉 Lucky me!
But there is more evidence before we do a little analysis of the causes of this surprising behavior in response to the speeches of competent orators. "Multiple commencement speakers booed for AI comments during graduation speeches." (May 18, 2026, NBC News). These included, apart from Eric Schmidt, Gloria Caulfield (Vice President of Tavistock Development Company), and Scott Borchetta (CEO of Big Machine Records).
What happened here? The incidents are from graduation speeches at universities in the United States, a country that is typically not tech-averse. But fear of AI's impact on jobs and careers has risen. Graduates of Universities find it more difficult to find their first job.
The Classes of 2025 and 2026 started looking for jobs earlier and received fewer job offers than the Class of 2024.
But is there mass unemployment among graduates? Simply no!
Is AI the main cause of these changes? Simply no!
The causes are linked to an economic slowdown and changes in how organizations recruit. And yes, technology in the workplace is changing. Part of this is linked to AI.
But why these extremely negative reactions at the graduation ceremonies?
Simple answer: Fear has increased.
Eric Schmidt addressed this quite clearly, but it was not well received.
A VUCA environment, plus quite a few big players in AI spreading doom scenarios for the job market.
"In 2023-24, 47% of bachelor’s degree recipients from public and private nonprofit four-year colleges and universities graduated with debt and the average debt level among borrowers was $29,560; 10% graduated with private loan debt with an average private loan debt level of $42,170; 46% graduated with federal loan debt with an average debt level of $20,460." (College Board, 2025)
This is substantial debt.
How will you pay back tens of thousands of dollars in debt if you are unemployed?
VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity), AI-doom scenarios for the job market, and personal debt make for an explosive mix.
Now you can put into context why the graduates booed rather than cheered.
Quod erat demonstrandum! As my mathematics professor always said after solving a tricky problem.
Thank you for reading this article.
Be meaningful and curious!
SOURCES
College Board. (2025). Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid Report: Published Tuition Prices at Public Institutions and Annual Federal Borrowing Increase by Less than 1% Beyond Inflation. https://newsroom.collegeboard.org/trends-college-pricing-and-student-aid-report-published-tuition-prices-public-institutions-and?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Jacobs, S. (Dec. 11, 2025). Why the Architects of AI Are TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year. TIME. https://time.com/7339621/person-of-the-year-2025-ai-architects-choice/
NBC News. (May 18, 2026). Multiple commencement speakers booed for AI comments during graduation speeches. Retrieved Aug. 21, 2026 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwWaoyIy5e8&list=WL&index=1
WSJ News. (May 18, 2026). Ex-Google CEO Gets Booed While Discussing AI in Commencement Speech. Retrieved Aug 21, 2026 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNH43a1EI7s&list=WL&index=5
