As artificial intelligence casts a shadow over , it is becoming an unwelcome subject at this season鈥檚 college commencements. At several campuses, graduates have interrupted speakers with stadium-wide boos when the topic turned to .
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt faced repeated jeers over the weekend during his keynote address to about 10,000 University of Arizona graduates on the rise of AI.
鈥淚t will touch every profession, every classroom, every hospital, every laboratory, every person and every relationship you have,鈥� Schmidt said, as booing began to build in the audience.
鈥淚 know what many of you are feeling about that. I can hear you,鈥� Schmidt responded as the boos continued. 鈥淭here is a fear in your generation that the future has already been written, that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating 鈥� and I understand that fear.鈥�
To students the topic felt tone deaf, said Olivia Malone, a 22-year-old University of Arizona graduate bound for law school.
鈥淗is speech was incredibly disrespectful to students,鈥� said Malone. 鈥淲e as students are discouraged from using it and penalized for using it. And then to have our speaker be the champion of AI is just like, OK? Why?鈥�
Similar responses to keynote speakers who touched on AI at other universities highlight a pervasive sense of anxiety among today’s college students.
Polls show growing concern that AI will doom career plans
Across campuses and in a multitude of recent surveys, students say they are trying to figure out which skills, majors and jobs won鈥檛 be by AI.
About 70% of college students see AI as a threat to their job prospects, according to a 2025 poll by the at the Harvard Kennedy School.
A recent of Generation Z youth and adults, between ages 14 and 29, found increasingly negative attitudes toward AI. About half of Gen Z teens and adults say they use AI daily or weekly. But anger about the technology has increased since a year ago, while excitement and hopefulness about AI is declining.
Another speaker, real estate executive Gloria Caulfield, also faced boos when she highlighted the advent of artificial intelligence during a keynote this month at the University of Central Florida.
鈥淭he rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution,鈥� Caulfield said, as boos erupted, to her surprise. She turned around to ask those behind her, 鈥淲hat happened?鈥�
鈥淥K, I struck a chord. May I finish?鈥� said Caulfield, who is vice president of strategic alliances at the Tavistock Development Company in Orlando.
鈥淥nly a few years ago, AI was not a factor in our lives,鈥� she said, prompting cheers. 鈥淎nd now, AI capabilities are in the palm of our hand,鈥� she said to more jeering.
Speakers have tried to stress positives
A similar response met music executive Scott Borchetta when he spoke to the graduating class of Middle Tennessee State University about how AI is shaping the music industry.
鈥淎I is rewriting production as we sit here,鈥� said Borchetta, the CEO of Big Machine Records, as the students in caps and gowns booed. 鈥淚 know it. Deal with it 鈥� Do something about it. It鈥檚 a tool. Make it work for you.鈥�
Schmidt offered a similar message to graduates: Their fear is rational, but they have the power to shape how AI develops.
The advice didn’t land well with students like Malone, who said the former Google executive’s speech was more self-serving than inspirational.
鈥淚t felt like a big advertisement. It felt like the longest Gemini ad ever,鈥� said Malone, noting that the choice of Schmidt as keynote speaker had also been controversial because his name appears in the . 鈥淓verybody I was sitting by was really hooting and hollering about that, yelling, 鈥楨pstein files! Epstein files!鈥欌��
Grads already face a tough job market
Part of the backlash from graduating students stems from the they鈥檙e entering. The has reached its highest level in a dozen years.
Sami Wargo just graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee, where an AI expert was the undergraduate commencement speaker despite a student petition demanding that the school find someone else.
鈥淕iven how AI has become an increasing threat towards our jobs, especially for our graduating class, we thought it was a little bit tone deaf,鈥� said Wargo, who majored in digital media and minored in advertising.
Chris Duffey, an AI evangelist at Adobe who recently used AI to 鈥渃o-author鈥� a book titled 鈥淪uperhuman Innovation: Transforming Business with Artificial Intelligence,鈥� took the stage anyway.
鈥淚nnovation,鈥� he told the students, 鈥渨ill reveal what can be done, but only you can decide what should be done.鈥�
Wargo said she joined other students around her in booing his message.
The 21-year-old has applied for around 30 jobs but hasn’t landed one yet. Many of the job descriptions say applicants must 鈥渃ollaborate with AI,鈥� but 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what that means,鈥� she said, noting that most of her classes banned her from using AI.
Having to be reminded of all the uncertainty at their graduation, she said, was another 鈥渓ittle dent in what was supposed to be a celebratory day.鈥�
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