University of Arizona graduates loudly voiced their disdain for artificial intelligence during their commencement address on Friday.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt began his commencement speech with a story of how his doctoral research helped create the personal laptop: “We believed that connecting every human being on Earth to each other, and I really believe this, and all of the world's information would be an unambiguous good."
He tied this technological transformation and its societal impacts to the current rise of artificial intelligence.
“We thought that we were adding stones to a cathedral of knowledge that humanity had been constructing for centuries, but the world we built turned out to be more complicated than we had anticipated,” Schmidt said.
Boos could be heard the moment Schmidt took the stage and throughout his speech. They grew each time the topic turned to AI and its growing influence in the workplace and daily life.
“It will touch every profession, every classroom, every hospital, every laboratory, every person, and every relationship you have. I know what many of you are feeling about that, I can hear you,” Schmidt said.
A recent ZipRecruiter poll of 1,500 class of 2026 graduates found that half believed AI will reduce the number of entry-level roles. Gallup has also been tracking Gen-Z’s sentiments toward AI and found a 9-point drop in hopeful feelings about the technology over the last year.
Schmidt addressed these concerns in his remarks: “There is a fear in your generation that the future has already been written, that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating, that the climate is breaking, that politics is fractured and that you are inheriting a mess that you did not create.”
He encouraged the audience to not give up their agency because the future and the direction of artificial intelligence is constantly being shaped in classrooms, start-ups, legislatures and laboratories.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been modified to correct that there has been a 9-point drop in hopeful feelings about the technology over the last year.
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