Why AI will lead to boos at college graduation ceremonies in 2026: NPR

Last week, Glendale Community College’s graduation ceremony hit a snag just as students were walking across the stage to receive their diplomas. The wrong name was read out during a ceremony outside Phoenix. Some graduates couldn’t even read their names.

Tiffany Hernandez, the university’s president, tried to explain the issue. “We’re using a new AI system as a leader,” she said, to loud boos from the audience. (The university said in a statement that it blamed the technical issue and apologized to students for the experience.)

Other commencement speakers who highlighted the fundamental changes brought about by artificial intelligence have also faced boos from the Class of 2026.

On May 8, real estate executive Gloria Caulfield explained to University of Central Florida graduates that AI is “the next industrial revolution.”

The boos immediately started.

“Okay, that resonated with me,” Caulfield said.

At Middle Tennessee State University, graduates booed when record company executive Scott Borschetta said during a May 9 graduation ceremony that “AI is rewriting production while we’re sitting here.” Borschetta responded to the boos by saying, “Deal with it. Like I said, this is a tool.” As boos continued, he added: “Then do something about it. This is a tool. Make it work for you.”

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was repeatedly booed by University of Arizona graduates at his May 15 commencement ceremony, including when he said, “The question is not whether AI will shape the world. It will. The question is whether you will help shape it.”

ChatGPT was released in 2022, when many of this year’s undergraduates were just starting college. Whether it’s using AI to build a business or commit fraud, many people have embraced AI, for better or for worse.

But despite, or perhaps because of, that experience, many graduates feel that booing is warranted.

“I think my instinct was that I was going to be one of the boos in the crowd,” said Maggie Simmons, who plans to attend her own graduation ceremony at the University of Denver next month.

She told NPR she’s concerned that AI is having a negative impact on the planet and harming Black and minority communities. AI language models have been found to reinforce systemic racism, and the data centers needed to power AI systems disproportionately impact minority communities.

“In the future, the people in this room should get their degrees and go into the workforce,” said Simmons, who studied molecular biology and Spanish in preparation to one day become a pediatrician. “We should celebrate them and their brains, especially not the artificial intelligence that will take their jobs in the future without regulation.”

Kareen Gill, who graduated from American University with a degree in political science, believes many of her generation feel pessimistic about AI.

“I think at first we were all excited about it and it was a cool thing like, ‘Oh, I’ll write an essay for you,’ but now we don’t want that anymore and we don’t want it to ruin our job prospects and ruin the job we’ve worked so hard for for so many years, four years, that we’re not qualified for,” Gill said.

One immediate impact Gill has noticed is a decline in entry-level positions such as internships and telephone answering. This is because some of these jobs will be replaced by AI.

“So we’ve seen it firsthand and we realize how much it stacks against us,” Gill said. “But I don’t think older generations are necessarily in our position. That doesn’t impact the future of the rest of the adult generation in the same way.”

In fact, a March poll from Quinnipiac University showed that there are generational differences in how concerned Americans are about AI taking their jobs.

“Despite their familiarity with AI, Gen Z is the most pessimistic about employment, with 81% saying AI will reduce their job opportunities,” said Chetan Jaiswal, associate professor of computing and computer science at Quinnipiac University, who also worked on the study.

Jaiswal said the poll shows Americans overall are becoming more concerned and less excited about AI as the technology’s impact becomes more apparent.

“People aren’t denying AI, but now that the initial AI fever has passed, people have doubts,” Jaiswal said.

Gill, a recent AU graduate, agrees on this point, saying her generation’s concerns about AI go far beyond landing their first job.

“Knowing how they are enriching billionaires and depleting our environment really opened our eyes to the ripple effects of AI,” she says.

In fact, a Quinnipiac poll found that only 5% of Americans feel that AI development is being led by people or organizations that represent their interests.