Students keep booing AI at graduation speeches this year

It’s graduation season, and that means commencement speakers are offering up their best advice for how to live a happy, healthy, and successful life.

But instead of being met with welcoming smiles and engaged head nods, one topic is being met with anger and boos—AI.

In a series of recent incidents, listeners have balked as commencement speakers have either told them to embrace artificial intelligence, or have otherwise mentioned the ever-expanding technology in a speech.

It happened when Gloria Caulfield, vice president of strategic alliances for the Orlando-based company Tavistock, began telling the graduating class at the University of Central Florida’s College of Arts and Humanities and its Nicholson School of Communication and Media that the “rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution.” 

Instantly, the crowd erupted into boos that made the speaker take a pause.

“Okay, I struck a chord! May I finish?” Caulfield said in surprise. Fast Company reached out to UCF, which declined to comment about the moment.

The incident was not an isolated one. The graduating class at Middle Tennessee State University reacted similarly when Scott Borchetta, CEO at Big Machine Records, said, “AI is rewriting production as we sit here.”

When the crowd began to express their distaste, the speaker pushed back, saying, “Deal with it. Like I said, it’s a tool.” 

“We understand and remain compassionate about our students’ concerns and questions about AI affecting their careers,” a representative for Middle Tennessee University told Fast Company. “Scott Borchetta encouraged MTSU students to explore AI as a tool to enhance their knowledge and storytelling, and reminded them that human creativity will always be the most important thing, not the platform or system.”

Most recently, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was booed on Friday when he brought up AI during his speech at the University of Arizona. As soon as he mentioned “AI,” the crowd erupted, but he pressed on, attempting to make his point over the persistent boos. 

“It will touch every profession, every classroom, every hospital, every laboratory, every person, and every relationship you have,” Schmidt said. “I know what many of you are feeling about that.”

As boos continued, Schmidt acknowledged the response, “I can hear you. There is a fear,” he said. 

Fast Company reached out to the University of Arizona but did not immediately hear back.

AI disruption clouds an already-cloudy job market

It seems clear that a lot of students in the graduating classes of 2026 don’t want to hear about AI—which makes sense, given that the job market for new grads is tough and many likely believe that AI is at least one factor.

Gen Z’s distaste for AI is becoming well documented. According to new research from GoTo, which specializes in cloud-based business communication, IT management, and remote support software, Gen Z workers, more than other generations, largely feel that AI is making them dumber. Close to half (46%) of Gen Zers felt this way, compared with 39% of workers overall.

Not only do new grads not want to hear about how they should embrace the technology, but they also don’t seem to want AI anywhere near their graduation ceremonies.

During the commencement ceremony at Glendale Community College in Arizona, an AI system that was being used to read graduates’ names malfunctioned. When GCC president Tiffany Hernandez tried to explain what was happening, the crowd reacted quickly.

“Here’s what is happening. We’re using a new AI system as our reader,” Hernandez said as the audience booed. “Yep, yep. So that is a lesson learned for us,” Hernandez added.

In a statement to AZ Family, GCC apologized for the AI glitch. “[There] was a technical issue that impacted the reading of some graduate names,” the statement read. “While the issue was corrected during the ceremony, we are sorry for the disruption it caused during what should have been a celebratory moment for our graduates and their families.”

However, the statement stopped short of specifically saying that the school would no longer use AI during ceremonies. “We are incredibly proud of all our graduates and are taking steps to ensure an issue like this does not occur again,” it said.

While AI is certain to keep showing up in graduation ceremonies as they continue this week, speakers who plan to talk warmly about embracing it may find that they are speaking to the wrong crowd.

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