Woof woof, woof woof. Debbie Downer is back. And she’s talking about AI.
On Sunday, “SNL” alumnus Rachel Dratch, who currently stars in Broadway’s revival of “The Rocky Horror Show,” gave a commencement speech to Dartmouth College graduates.
Like many commencement speakers this season, Dratch addressed the impact of AI on careers. Unlike business leaders, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who were booed after making optimistic statements about the technology, Dratch drew laughs from the audience.
She did it with the help of some of the most famous “SNL” characters.
“It’s quite an accomplishment to graduate from Dartmouth,” said Dratch, who plays Debbie Downer, launching into one of the character’s standard melancholy nonsequiturs. “Of course, jobs will disappear thanks to AI, so congratulations on your mandatory gap year, everyone.”
She gave a blank look to the camera and shrugged. The trombone played two descending rumbling notes. The musical equivalent is “wump, wamp.”
“It’s inspiring to see you all ready to face our world with fresh minds,” she said. “Unfortunately, because of data center construction and impending water wars, the most useful college majors right now are foraging and hand-to-hand combat.”
The trombones roared even more dissonantly.
“Here you go,” Dratch said as a dark musical cue sounded.
AI has been a recurring theme at graduation ceremonies this year, coming as graduates enter a job market that was already overshadowed by questions about the technology.
This tension also contributes to the question of the popularity of AI in the United States. A Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday found that only 16% of Americans surveyed said they were “very or somewhat positive” about the impact of AI on their daily lives, while 40% said they were “very or somewhat negative.”
Immediately prior to his speech, Mr. Dratch, who graduated from Dartmouth in 1988, was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university.
She completed her degree in the same amount of time it took to pursue an LLM.
“Not to brag, but I also received my degree here today,” she said. “For most people, it’s a bachelor’s degree in literature. For me, it’s a PhD. For you, it took four long years. And for me it takes less than a minute. I think it’s just a quick study.”